Medina Díaz Alejandra, Blue

BLUE

Written by Alejandra Medina Díaz

It was a sunny day, the sky was blue with a few white clouds,

Joseph Robinson, an 8-year-old kid, was in the ninth floor of a hospital receiving his chemotherapy treatment, while he was staring at the sky throughout the window. As usual, in the last days, he could only think about the color Blue, where the beautiful sea and the sky come together. Sometimes when you think about the afterlife, you dream of a place, you haven’t seen in real life but you love it, and you are sure about your love for it.

He imagined himself swimming in a turquoise and crystal water, hearing the sounds of soft waves, diving into the deepest sea, and watching lots of animal species and colorful corals. He dreamt about being at the beach running into white-yellow sand and build sandcastles while his mother brings him a fresh orange juice as he listens to a Bob Marley song, that gets disrupted by a strong breeze of the large coconut palms, and then, he looked up and noticed the most beautiful sky, a light blue sky without clouds, with a stunning sun and a scented sea breeze.

“Mom, Dad!, have you seen the sky? It is light blue and looks lovely, I’m really happy. Do you imagine a plane flying through this beautiful sky heading to the beach? It would be wonderful, I envy those people.” He stopped for a while and sighed and he continued if I could only take a plane and choose to go to any place in the world, I would choose to go to the beach”

His mother almost cried listening to his little boy but she held her tears and said;

“I’m happy for you, sweetie. You’ve been such a strong baby boy, and maybe one day, you will get to fly your airplane to the beach. And you’re right, it is a lovely morning today”

Said his mom, while she turned around to her husband to hide her tears and his father said;

“I know kiddo, I know, but sooner than you expect, I will take you to the beach. I promise” Said his father, which put a smile on his face and then his mom interrupted his father and said;

“Can we please talk outside for a second?” said Joseph’s mom.

“Sure dear”- said Oliver Robinson.

As his father walked outside, he made some funny face to his son to tell him that he was in trouble and his son was laughing at his father’s facetious faces.

They both walked outside the room and when they arrived in the hallway, his mother said;

“How could you lie to Joseph that you will take him soon to the beach when you don’t even have the money to pay the chemotherapy? How are we going to afford this?”

“I understand your frustrations, I know what we have, I know I need to pay the bills, Just let me figure this out… you know, I will find a way to pay all the necessary things, I’ll figure it out. We shouldn’t fight more, come here, and hug me, baby” Said Oliver.

“I love you”- Said Joseph’s mom while crying.

“I love you too, I’ll be a little busy in the next few days, OK?” Oliver said firmly.

“Why?” Joseph’s mother asked.

“Well, I need to work very hard to pay the bills, you understand, right?

“Yes, of course, I understand”. Joseph’s mother responded and she added; “Please, be careful!”

… Two days after…

BREAKING NEWS: The central bank has just be stolen by an anonymous man, who has not been able to be identified by the security cameras, and the police do not know his identity, although various witnesses claimed that it a man, probably in

his early forties. He has stolen $50.000.00 approximately. The police have stated that they will do a detailed investigation to find the suspect. Nevertheless; the police department reported that there were no victims, nobody was wounded nor killed during this act of crime.

Joseph’s mother was watching the news from the TV attached to the wall at the hospital, while his son was sleeping, and she sighted and say; this city is getting more dangerous every day. A few moments later, Oliver arrived at the hospital and he asked;

“Hello, how’s my baby boy?” Said Oliver, as soon as he saw Joseph in the hospital.

“He is resting now, but he is doing great,” Said Joseph’s mom “Hi, Dad! I am okay” Joseph responded. “See, now you woke him up,” Joseph’s mother said to Oliver.

“Well, my dear and beloved family, I have a surprise for you. I have already spoken with the doctors and they permitted me to take Joseph at the beach, and we are going to Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii in three days.”

“Hawaii??? OHHH MY GOD, are you kidding me? Joseph shouted with lots of happiness.

“No Joseph, Of course, I’m not kidding you, we are going to the beach and you will take an aircraft for the first time.”

“Ohh my God, I can’t believe it, thank you, Dad, thank you… I want to go right know” Joseph thanked his father while he was laughing and crying at the same time.

“Honey, how are we going to afford it? we need to pay the chemotherapy first…” Said Juliet, Joseph’s mom

“It is already paid for, we don’t owe nothing, It’s time to relax and have a little vacation, we didn’t have one in a long time”, Said Oliver

“How did you pay for everything,” Julieth asked. “You worry too much my love, please just trust me on this

one, enjoy the moment, look at Joseph’s face, tell me that you are not pleased to see him like that”. Said, Oliver.

The family continued to talk and plan for their upcoming trip, Joseph was so happy that he couldn’t believe, it was happening.

...Three days after…

The family was on a plane heading to the beach, Joseph was very excited, it was his first time to sit on an airplane, he was sitting at the window, watching the clouds moving, he had a radiant smile in his face, there are no words in the dictionary that could be used to describe how he felt living his dream.

“Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, I would like to welcome you all to the flight A120, the flight time will be approximately two hours and a half. On behalf of the A120 company and my crew, we would like to wish you all a wonderful journey to Hawaii, Please be prepared to take off and enjoy the flight”.

The flight was outstanding, it did not present any inconvenience. They arrived in Hawaii safe and sound and they headed to Lanikai Beach resort hotel close to the beach where they were received with a welcome drink and some beautiful flowers. They had lunch at the hospital, went into the room, and changed clothes. At 3:29 pm, finally, they went to the beach

“Welcome to paradise, Joseph Robinson”. Said Oliver.

Joseph was out of words, mesmerized by the beauty of the sea and everything that surrounded him, He laughed, and later cried of Joy, he had many mixed feelings, He realized that he was one of the luckiest people on the planet who could see the sea and enjoy its incredible beauty and power.

He ran immediately in that turquoise, crystal, and salty water of the sea while his mom was shouting in the back;

“Joseph, be careful and don’t go too far, swim where I can see you”

and he shouted back; “Yes mom”

Later on, his mother and father joined him, and they swam, snorkel, and later ate plenty of fried fishes that were being sold at the beach, drunk lots of coconut water, and walked along the coast to watch the sunset. Their favorite part of the day was watching the sunset. The orange-gold of the sunset, stretches far and wide, the color of fire hearts and tangerines made Joseph’s family spirit fly at the sight that they were transported into a timeless existence that proved them that anything could happen in just one day, that sadly is another day that is left behind.

After a week spent with beautiful memories, they returned to Texas, San Antonio in high spirits from their trip. little did they know, that they were leaving happiness in Hawaii. The next morning, their house was raided by the police officers and siren, and Oliver was arrested and taken into prison for robbery. The police had identified him as the thief behind the central bank robbery that occurred about 2 weeks ago. Belatedly after; Robinson’s family went through a very painful and tough situation, as the bank froze their accounts.

Oliver accepts the charges and he said that he did what he needed to do to put a smile in his son’s face and help him beat cancer and that he does not regret anything, his case became very popular all over the united states and the media started to attack the family for news coverage and commentaries, which was hard for the family,

Notwithstanding, amid this terrible situation, Robinson’s family received a piece of wonderful and admirable news saying that Joseph has beaten cancer. The doctors were pleased by his strength, It seemed as if he had been saved by the sea.

When Joseph was discharged from the hospital, he went back home and he tried to recover his normal life before having cancer, and one day he received a call from a social

activist who told Joseph that his story touched his heart and that he wanted to invite him in conference tour around the world lecturing the case of Joseph, and how he beat cancer and he wants Joseph’s accompaniment. As well, he promised Joseph that he was going to help him raise funds which will be destined for Joseph’s education and his father’s defense.

One month later, the conference began, they started their tour in Germany, they continued in Belgium, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Ireland, the United States, Brazil, and a few more countries. Conferences are a success, still, the media and the public have divided conclusions and opinions, most of them wondered if in this case, as Maquiavelo says, The end justified the means.