The weather was brisk, with the Minnesota winds howling from the east, and Buck was walking to school. On his way across Plymouth Street he met Jack like he did everyday at nine a.m. Jack was a tall stocky figure for his age, Buck had met him in kindergarten while they were learning to read. Jack walked up next to him, and Buck noticed he had a heavy brown jacket and a hat to keep the cold away from his body. The jacket was nice, and Buck thought he would like to have one if his family could afford it, but all their money was going towards his treatment. All he had was a worn out sweater and a beanie from two, maybe three years back. He needed the beanie on most cold days, as he did not have the hair to keep his head warm. They walked in silence for a little bit, but then Jack spoke, “Buck?”
“Yeah?” said Buck.
“Do you think when people die… they… they come back? Maybe in a different form or body though?” Buck looked at Jack, and he was looking down at Buck with sadness in his eyes.
“Jack, it’s not going to be for a while. It’s okay.” As they arrived at school, Buck and Jack split up in the main hallway and went toward their separate classes.  Mrs. Codd’s classroom was warm compared to the cold climate outside, and Buck’s classmates were saying “hi” to their friends. Buck really only had one friend, and that was Jack. Well, two, if you counted the nurse that he always talked to when he went in for weekly check-ups. The day went on as planned, math, then history,  English, then Science.
At recess, he was heading out to the playground when he was intercepted by Jim Otto. Jim Otto was short, but not as short as Buck, and was perceived as a bully by most kids.
“Where ya’ goin’ Buck!” He snorted.
“Where I always go, to see Jack,” Buck replied.
“Buck has a boyfriend!” he shouted.
“Really?” Buck said, “That’s the best you can do? That doesn’t make sense at all”.
“Whatever,” said Jim as he turned around and walked away. Buck proceeded to the playground.
“Jim bothering you again?” asked Jack when he reached the playground.
“Sorta,” replied Buck. The day went on normally, and Buck’s mom picked him up in her sedan right after school for the weekly checkup. They arrived at the St. Paul General Hospital, which was about a half hour from Newport where he lived, and the nurse called in his mom in first. Buck sat waiting there playing on his gameboy for ten, maybe twenty minutes, and then his mom finally came out. She looked different, sort of sad. She walked over and sat next to him on the waiting room chair.
There was silence, and after a while his mom said “I have some bad news. The doctor told me… that… you only have... two months.” At this she broke into tears and Buck sat there, stunned. He didn’t think it was possible, it couldn’t be! The doctor came out and apologized, then handed him a pamphlet with the title ‘How to deal with dying’. Buck took it, but paid no attention to it.
His brain was still going on about “I feel fine! Is this a joke!? Am I dreaming?!”
Everything else seemed like a blur around him, and as if he were in his own universe. Nothing mattered, nothing triggered a reaction, nothing was real. “I just need to wake up!” he thought, but he couldn’t. He was breathing heavily now, “I... just... need to… wake… up...” Then everything went black.
Buck couldn’t see but he could still hear voices around him, “He’s blacked out! Get him into a room! Get him on a heart monitor!” And suddenly, he drifted into a deep slumber.
“Can you hear me? Buck, wake up, can you hear me?” It was the nurse.
“Y-yeah…,” said Buck
“You blacked out, it’s been a few hours. You’re going to need to spend the night in the hospital.”
When he got back to school on the following Monday, he was walking with Jack. There was silence, then he delivered the news.
“What?!” “H-how!?” Jack said. The words of sorrow Jack said, seemed to drift past Buck, who didn’t want to hear it. They arrived at school, and at recess Buck went to Jack and saw that Jack’s face was red, he’d been crying. They just sat next to each other, for 20 minutes, and when the bell rung Jack said, “You’ve been my best friend for so long, I don’t know how to say goodbye.” At that he turned and walked towards his classroom.
At lunch, Buck was walking along the hallway when he ran into Jim.
“What’s the matter!” he shouted. “Have you been crying, baby!”
“Shut up,” Buck said.
“What!!” Jim screamed “Nobody says that to me!!”
At hearing this Jim delivered a blow to Buck’s chest that knocked him onto the floor. What happened next happened so quickly, that Buck hadn’t even began to get up. Jack seemed to appear out of nowhere and punched Jim in the face which sent him flying backwards where, he crashed into a locker, fell down and started crying. Jack helped Buck up and said, let’s get out of here, quickly. They reached the playground, and Jack said, “Buck... do you know why people call you that?”
“No,” said Buck
“Have you ever heard of Buckshot?” Jack asked
“No,” replied Buck
“Well it’s sort of a round bullet like a musket shot. And it can go through anything. Just like you can.”
The next few months were grim. Just waiting, thinking, talking. And, Buck finally came to realize the truth. He now knew he was going to die, and he was okay with this. Sure he was scared, anybody would be. But he had had an interesting life, and not any big regrets, which calmed him. And two weeks before the set date, he had to go into the hospital, so that they could monitor him until the time came. When he came into the hospital, he was expecting them to tell him to lay down on the bed, but instead they asked him to come into the room and sit down with the doctor. Only him and the doctor.
“Buck, I have some good news,” She said
When she said this, it seemed like he was in a prison, but suddenly the gates opened and outside there was brilliant sunshine.“We found an operation that might cure you. It consists of surgery, and your parents are willing to pay for it, but it isn’t a sure thing that it will work. You’ll have to stay here a few days while we get things set up. Again, this might work.”
“I’m willing to do anything,” Buck said.
“I know you are,” she replied.
He was brought to the Mayo Clinic that was about an hour and a half away, a few days before the operation. The next few days were the best of his life. He was so happy that he might a chance to live a longer life, and on top of it, they brought in a video game console so that he wouldn’t be bored laying in bed. The day of the operation he was brought into the operation room where he hugged his mom and dad, and layed down on the operation bed.
“See you in a few hours bud,” his dad said.
The nurse put a sort of cup over his mouth that she told him had sleeping gas that flowed into it. His eyes started to close, then he fell into a deep sleep.
He woke up to the sound of the heart monitor beeping, and the sight of snow drifting past the window. He glanced over at the doctor was sitting there, right next to him.
“Did it work?” Buck said sleepily.
She turned and smiled at him.
“You are going to live a long life Buck, with many adventures. You’ll go on and accomplish many things,” she said. “So the answer is yes.”
By now my hair has grown back, and I’m a lot taller. But often I look back on those months and think of all the things that I learned. I got through that, and I got through many other difficult tasks in my life, but not near as difficult as the story I just told. And, I’m sure I’ll encounter many more difficulties, but I know I can make it. Because I am Buck, the boy who can go through anything.