So Much to Live For Read Online Free PDF

everyone felt perfectly free to “come as they were,” without pretense or shame about how awful they might look or feel.
    She remembered her first camp session with Sandy. Their hair had finally begun to grow back after chemo. In the privacy of the woods, they’d pulled off their scarves to compare lengths and hugged each other over the progress. Absently, Dawn fingered her hair, which now brushed her shoulders. She didn’t think she’d ever wear her hair short again. It brought back too many bad memories.
    She was pleased to see her cabin of girls sitting together on a log. Even Marlee had turned out, though she sat hugging her knees to her chest, ignoring the other girls.
    Afterward, they all filed back for breakfast and then returned to their cabins for cleanup. Dawn had been assigned CIT inspector duty for the day. When the bell had called the campers for arts and crafts, she went through each cabin with a clipboard, checking off the items that counted toward the Clean Cabin Award. Her inspection of her own cabin revealed a spotless bathroom and neatly made bunk beds—except for Marlee’s.
    Angry, Dawn stared down at the jumbled bedcovers. All the others were trying to win the pizza party, but Marlee wasn’t cooperating. It wasn’t fair. Dawn felt like pulling the girl out of crafts and forcing her to return and make her bed. With a sigh, she decided to do it herself this one time. But she would talk to Marlee about it later.
    She yanked up the satiny pink sheet and saw that it was elaborately monogrammed and trimmed in delicate eyelet lace. “Good grief,” Dawn muttered. “Who brings designer sheets to camp?” She tucked in the corners and spread a beautiful, country print comforter over the sheets. “Pretty fancy,” she said aloud, admiring its beauty. Certainly nicer than anything
she’d
ever owned.
    Once finished, she looked around for the usual assortment of stuffed animals that girls usually brought to camp. The other beds were teeming with plush wildlife, but there were none to perch on Marlee’s bed. “They all probably ran away from her,” Dawn told Mr. Ruggers before leaving.

    * * * * *

    “What do you think about this, Dawn?” Paige asked the minute she stepped inside the main hall. The tiny ten-year-old held up a clear plastic bottle that she had turned into a terrarium.
    “That’s great,” Dawn told her, inspecting the mini-jungle that Paige had carefully planted inside. Other girls came around to show off their handiwork. Everyone except Marlee had created a terrarium to take back home.
    “It was stupid,” Marlee told Dawn when Dawn asked her why she hadn’t made one. “Who wants to take home weeds in a bottle?”
    Dawn bit her tongue to keep from saying something sharp.
    Right before lunch, Tony announced, “Hey, guys. Dr. Ben says the photographer’s here to take the group picture. Get your suits on and meet down by the lake. Then we can swim until the lunch bell rings.”
    In minutes, the girls from her cabin had cleaned up the craft tables and raced to change. She followed them to the lake where a photographer arranged all the campers a cluster and took their picture. Boys mugged and made faces, and then afterward, everyone dashed for the water.
    “You ready for that diving lesson?” Brent asked Dawn as she watched her kids splashing in the cool blue-green water.
    “I told you, I’m hopeless. You’ll be wasting your time.”
    “I taught one of my boys to dive already. It’s simple.”
    Still, Dawn hesitated, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of her girls. Then Brent turned to Marlee, who was just climbing up onto the pier. “Hey, Marlee. Help me show Dawn how easy it is to dive.”
    Without waiting for her to answer, Brent took Marlee’s hand and stood beside her on the wooden dock. Dawn saw Marlee’s face turn beet-red. Her few tufts of hair were plastered to her scalp and her good eye darted nervously. The other was covered with a patch. Again, Dawn