StoryThey read it alone, then read the best part aloud
Jada Hears Her Heart
Jada’s knees bounced up and down in the waiting room. The clinic smelled like hand soap and crayons. Her little brother, Nico, was building a tower of plastic blocks on the rug, but Jada couldn’t sit still. It was her first checkup at this clinic, and she didn’t know anyone.
“Jada Brooks?” a nurse called from the doorway.
Jada took a big breath, stood up and marched in first, before Mom had even picked up her bag.
The nurse, whose name tag said Ms. Ortiz, had Jada step on a scale and stand against a tall measuring stick. “You’ve grown two inches since last year,” Ms. Ortiz said. Jada grinned and stood up even straighter.
Then Dr. Lee came in. She wore a stethoscope around her neck: two earpieces, a long tube and a flat silver circle at the end. “This helps me listen to your heart and lungs,” she explained.
“How does it work?” Jada asked. “Can sound really travel through a tube? Can I listen too?”
Dr. Lee laughed and handed it over. Jada put the earpieces in her ears and pressed the silver circle to her own chest. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
“It’s so fast!” she said. “Is it supposed to be that fast?”
“Kids’ hearts beat faster than grown-ups’ hearts,” Dr. Lee said. “That’s a strong, healthy heart.”
Jada asked three more questions about lungs before Mom reminded her that other kids were waiting.
On the way out, Nico started to cry. He had seen a nurse carrying a tray of shots, and his lip was shaking. Jada knelt down and held his hand. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Nobody’s getting a shot today. Want to hear something cool? Your heart goes thump-thump, just like a drum.”
Nico sniffled and put his hand on his chest. Then he smiled.
Dr. Lee watched them go. “That girl,” she said to Ms. Ortiz, “is going to be a great doctor someday.”