Della took the last sweater from her suitcase and pushed it onto the floor, where it landed with a thunk. It was 9:00 PM on the seventh day since they moved. The hallways in her new school had never felt so long. At least Della was done unpacking.
She was about to get up to get ready for bed when a hole on the floor, where her suitcase had loosened a floorboard, caught her attention. Inside was an envelope with the handwriting of her best friend Sage. The letters were all the same size, written with Sage’s favorite burgundy pen. The envelope was styled with the decorative border Sage drew on the covers of all her notebooks, and in the middle was the drawing of a teddy bear.
Sage and Della had an unlikely friendship. Whereas Sage was quiet and artistic, Della was outgoing and athletic. They met at recess during the first day of fifth grade, when Sage had just moved to their town. Della had seen Sage sitting alone on a bench, knitting a bear. Della loved teddy bears and had always wanted to learn to knit. She went over to Sage and said, “Your bear looks so cute. Can you teach me how to knit something?”
Sage agreed. After three months of hard work, Della made a scarf for her mom for Christmas. Della had always been so clumsy with fine art that her mom had never bothered to teach her how to knit.
Della took Sage’s knitted bear from her dresser. Sage had left it in Della’s suitcase without telling her. The bear matched the picture exactly, right down to the rounded ears. It was just like Sage to memorize and reproduce something with every detail in place. Yet, why would Sage give Della the bear after what Della had said to her?
On the last day of sixth grade, Della had made goodbye cards for all her friends and passed them out. Since Sage was her best friend, Della thought she would make her card extra-special by including a $20 gift card to the local fabric store. Yet Sage would not even open her card. Instead, she said, “It must be nice to just get up and move whenever you want, huh?”
Della was so excited about joining the soccer team and the drama club in her new school that she missed the sarcasm in Sage’s voice. Instead, she rattled off all the things she was looking forward to doing next year, adding, “And you can come visit whenever you want, Sage. My address is 4210 Tulane Road.”
For a split second Della thought Sage’s face had gone pale. Yet, before she could say anything, Sage had thrown her card into the trash.
Della was hurt. “Never mind. You don’t have to come visit. You are not invited anyway!”
Della opened the envelope and found a letter inside.
Dear Jeff,
I don’t know where you are now, but I want to leave this letter here in case you come back. Mom and Dad thought our house was too sad to live in after you were gone, so we are moving. I didn’t have time to finish knitting the bear that I wanted to leave with you, so a picture will have to do for now. You were my brother and best friend. I don’t even know who I will give the bear to when I finish making it.
Love,
Sage
Della was still for a long moment as she absorbed everything she just learned. Sage had a brother. And her brother was gone.
Della grabbed her cell phone and called Sage. Sage picked up on the first ring, and both girls started talking at once.
“I’m sorry, Sage,” Della said. “I shouldn’t have said what I said. You are still my best friend. Please come visit me anytime.”
On the other end, Sage was saying, “I’m sorry I threw away your card, Della. I got it back from the trash and it’s great. I can take a picture and show you that I really have it.”
Della and Sage finished their apologies at the same time, and neither girl really heard what the other said. After a moment of silence, the girls laughed.
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