Excerpt from Different


One day while we were having a rehearsal, I got a phone call that my granny was in the hospital. Shed had a heart attack and was in ICU. She already had failing kidneys and had had one breast removed. When I got to the hospital, it was too late. They said Granny had passed five minutes before I got there. I was devastated. I was standing in the hallway outside of ICU, crying my eyes out, when suddenly I looked up and saw O-Mah at Grannys bedside. He somehow got past me, the nurses, everyone. He pulled the sheet from over her head. He never touched her. He never said a word. All he did was close his eyes, raise his right hand over my Grannys body and her eyes opened. I saw her eyes open. Her paleness from dying was gone, and color was back in her face. She rose up in the bed, looked at me through the glass window and waved. She started removing the equipment attached to her, the I.V., everything. I was in shock. I turned to the nurses station right behind me and told them she was sitting up. At first they thought I was delusional. But one nurse looked in and shouted, Its a miracle! Shes alive! They ran into her room. No one was there but her. In that brief second, O-Mah was gone. No one ever saw him enter or leave, Angie said as she blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. He saved my Grannys life. She no longer has kidney problems. Her heart is better than it was when she was in her twenties, and she teaches aerobics to senior citizens every day at the community center. O-Mah got to that hospital the same time I did, entered Grannys room without me seeing him, brought her back to life, and left without anyone seeing him but me. The only reason why I saw him was because he wanted me to.

Why do you think that?

I just know.

Did he ever talk to you about it?

No.

Why?

Because I just knew.

You knew what?

That he didnt want me to. I knew that all he wanted me to do was just know who he was.

And who is he?

Someone who is not like me and you, Jerry. Someone who is not like me and you.