Please Say Yes
It’s spring prom
season—she bought a dress to impress the one she hoped would ask her. But
then someone else asked, and she didn’t want to say “yes”.
Kevin was relentless. After every class he was waiting outside the door. His unmistakable scribbles on pleading notes were inside her locker. He’d call each evening after dinner. All he wanted was to go to the prom.
“Can I have your date, Pamela? Please say yes,” he asked
sweetly with his halting speech.
What would her friends think if she went to prom with
someone like him?
In her heart she knew she should. Down syndrome hadn’t
prevented Kevin from loving life, or seeing school, friendships, and even proms
as something he also deserved. Why her? Couldn’t someone else go with him? She
desperately wished someone else would ask her. But no, this was like a cosmic
trap set just for her.
When she couldn’t avoid his pleas any longer, she told him
she’d go. The smile that lit Kevin’s face made it impossible not to smile back.
She didn’t really know him. He was just a special needs kid she mostly ignored.
Now she’d be spending an evening with him, dressed in a gown that she’d bought
to impress someone else.
On the evening of prom, Kevin’s parents arrived and followed
their exuberant son to the front door. Carefully carrying a beautiful corsage,
Kevin couldn’t speak when he saw Pamela come down the stairs. His large eyes
took in the beauty of his first date. It was happening; he was going to prom.
He was just like the other kids.
Kevin knew he wasn’t normal. But what most kids didn’t know
is that he could hear and understand a lot. He could look at someone’s face and
see disgust, or pity, and especially rejection. Kevin had felt rejected more than
anything else since entering high school. No one had to tell him that he wasn’t
really welcome at the prom.
But now Pamela was smiling at him. She looked like
Cinderella in her azure-colored gown. He carefully slipped the corsage on her
wrist. The rest of the evening was captured in a special place in his mind. He
remembered every dance they shared.
It became an unforgettable night for Pamela too. Kevin’s
sheer joy made her realize how simple it had been to make someone’s dream come
true.
Life brings these opportunities. Reach out and take them and
you’ll get the joy of seeing genuine happiness in someone else. And one day as
you review your own life, you’ll be especially happy you did. You just need to
remember to say “yes”.