“Not Your Typical Prom Night”
By Stacy Bennett
A story found in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II
It's supposedly the happiest night of a girl's life (aside from her sixteenth birthday, that is). The
night when every girl in the free world does her hair for far too long, spends much more time on her
face than she ever will the rest of her life, and waits for Mr. Right to whisk her away to a night filled
with excitement, music, friends and fun. Ah, prom night.
Strange how things always look good in the theory stage, but never in the execution. When I
look back on my prom night, I see those wonderful things that other girls saw-the pretty dress, the
date, the car. However, that night I also saw something that a teenage girl should never have to see-a
brother slowly dying of cancer.
This isn't as morbid as it sounds. My brother was never the morbid type. Everything was
always "fine," even though as prom night approached, he couldn't see more than five inches in front
of his face, and had limited use of his arms and legs because the cancer pressed on nearly every
nerve in his body. It caused him excruciating pain with every touch-every hug.
This is how I found him the night of my prom. As I entered the room, my father was already
there, being a dad and sitting there with my brother, watching whatever sports event was on
television. My brother made a feeble attempt to watch; he could even try to convince himself that he
could see what was going on. Looking back on it, he had us all (except for my mother who spent
twenty-four hours a day with him) convinced that he would get better. That night I fully believed he
saw me walk in the room.
"Hi, my Dacy," he said, in the ever-so-cute baby talk tone he always used with me. I greeted
him with a smile, which to this very day I am not sure he saw. I wanted to give him a hug, but the pain
for him would have been too great. So instead I leaned over and gave him a slight kiss on the cheek.
He heard my dress rustling as I did this, and I could see him strain to see it. He always tried to hide
this act from us, but you couldn't help but notice it. He had this funny way of tilting his head
downward, because to quote him: "It's like the bottom part of my eye in cut off and I can only see
what is above this line." And he would hold his large had up and divide his eye in half horizontally, to
try to demonstrate.
As he tilted his head, desperately trying to see me in all my prom-night splendor, I couldn't help
but sob quietly. A tear hit my red satin gown and I tried to brush it away, absurdly believing that he
could see me.
"This sucks, Mom," he said, frustrated. "I can't even see my own sister's prom dress." I took his
hand and let him feel the satin of my dress. Being the protective sibling that he was, he felt around
the neckline, and noticing there wasn't a neckline, began to chastise me.
"I don't know about this Dacy," he said protectively. He then tried to look around, and
proceeded to call my date over and lecture him on what a gentleman he was going to be that night. I
stood back and watched him, this bigger-than-average boy, who couldn't see or even walk on his own
at this point, telling my date EXACTLY how he was going to treat his sister. I began to cry. I cried not
only for his feeble attempt at protection (actually, as I found out from my date much later, my brother
was still able to strike some fear into his heart), but at the fact that God, fate or whatever was doing
this to a boy who all his life just wanted to be normal-who just wanted to live.
I knew at this moment, as I watched him talking, that he would be gone from me soon. Maybe I
didn't admit it to myself right then, but I knew-somehow I knew, and I cried even harder. My brother
heard me from across the room, and called me over.
"Don't cry, Stace...don't cry." He had changed tones on me. This was the Serious Brother tone
now, the you-better-listen-to-what-I'm-saying tone. "It will be okay. It will get better. I know it will." He
started crying at this. My mom tried to reassure me that it was his medication that was making him
depressed; I wasn't convinced. Those tears were real. He tried to hug me and let me know that I
should go to my prom, and live my life. I gave my brother one last kiss and was gone.
Answer the following multiple choice questions about the essay you just read.
1. Line five of the essay states, “Strange how things always look good in the theory stage, but
never in the execution.” What does this statement imply about Prom Night?
A. Prom nights are always the most exciting night in a teenager’s life.
B. Proms nights are always better in speculation than in reality.
C. Prom nights are dreaded until the day actually arrives.
D. Prom nights are usually pretty fun, but no one expects much from them.
2. In line 9, the word morbid is used twice. What does morbid mean about the same as?
A. Hopeful
B. Dreadful
C. Terminal
D. Ridiculous
3. In line 15, Bennett states that, “My brother made a feeble attempt to watch; he could even try
to convince himself that he could see what was going on.” The word feeble most likely means:
A. Fake
B. Valiant
C. Commendable
D. Weak
4. When Bennett walked in the room on prom night, she chose to give her brother a kiss instead
of a hug. What fact from the story best justifies this decision?
A. He experiences too much pain from the physical demands of an embrace.
B. She did not want to mess up her dress and get it wrinkled.
C. She did not want him to be aware that her dress had no neckline.
D. He was too involved in the sports that was on the tv to notice her presence.
5. In lines 30-33 the narrator describes her brother’s reaction to her dress. From his reaction,
what can the reader infer?
A. He thought her dress was a little too stylish and she should be nervous wearing it.
B. He thought that her date would not approve of the fact that it didn’t have a neckline.
C. He thought that her dress was too revealing and that she shouldn’t be wearing it.
D. He thought that his father should have intervened before she put the dress on.
6. The author tells us that she found out from her date at a later time that he was intimidated by
her brother. What can the reader infer about the date from his confession?
A. He has no respect for someone who is ill.
B. He respected her brother’s wishes.
C. He wasn’t able to hear what her brother said.
D. He didn’t really take to heart what her brother said.
Answer the following short response question:
How does this essay exemplify that even the saddest situations offer people hope?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________