Page 109 of Niccolaio Andretti (The Five Syndicates)
And with that, she walks off.
The problem with raising yourself? You grow up fast, but you don’t grow up completely. And as I stood there and listened to Erica talk, I confirmed what I already suspected—that maybe I’ve finally grown up. That maybe I’m finally evolving.
“What she say?” Niccolaio asks, cautiously approaching me.
I smile at him. “Nothing I didn’t already know.”
With Niccolaio pushing Mina’s wheelchair into the handicap accessible van Niccolaio bought for when we take Mina out, which is every weekend, the three of head towards Mina’s school. Mina leaves us to head back stage, and Niccolaio and I find a seat in the front row beside Bastian; Asher; Lucy; and hell, even Aimee.
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make the transition from mother slash sister duo to only being Mina’s sister, but I have. And as the curtains pull back and Mina nails her first lines a few minutes later, I realize that I may not know what I’m going to do with my life, but I know that, whatever I do, I’ll have my family—Niccolaio, Asher, Lucy, Aimee, Bastian, and Mina—by my side.
I lean into Niccolaio’s ear and whisper, “I was right when I said we were going to be happy.”
Epilogue
six years later…
But we can’t go back.
We can only go forward.
Libba Bray
Admissions Essay #4
Question: In four hundred words or less, explain what has been the most significant day of your life and how it altered (or continues to alter) your perception of your future.
It’s a Dream
by Mina Reynolds
Six years ago, I was cast in my middle school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. For any other girl, that would be lauded. For me, it was like pigs suddenly sprouted Red Bull colored wings and began to explore the sky; purple rain was striking the unsuspecting New York pavement as a resurrected Prince sang notes at A5 that only dogs were able to hear; and a miracle had happened, and the Vatican had just received absolute, irrefutable confirmation that God exists, and we no longer needed faith to believe in Him.
You see, I have spina bifida, and I was told at a young age by a chorus of cynics that I wouldn’t amount to anything. That for the rest of my life, I would be nothing more than a girl stuck in a wheel chair, and I shouldn’t aspire to be anything more than that. That I was nothing more than my disability, and we were one in the same. And for a dark moment, I believed them. For twelve years, I thought that I couldn’t reach further than what my wheel chair would allow.
But as I opened my mouth and said as Juliet, “How now! Who calls?”, my voice reverberating around the theater and reaching the loving ears of my family, a band of nonconformists that, though not all related to me by blood, have been the only family I’ve ever known in every sense of the word, I realized that I could be anyone. Not just a foster kid. Not just a cripple. Not just Juliet.
Anyone.
I am Mina Reynolds, and my hopes and dreams aren’t bound by a stupid chair I’ve sat in for most of my life. They are the moon, the stars and the skies, and though they look so far out of reach, they are just as much mine as they are anyone else’s. Being Juliet was a wakeup call. A much needed eye opener. And after that, everything else became much clearer.
My life isn’t just the things that are arms reach from a wheel chair.
It’s a dream.
W I L T O N U N I V E R S I T Y
O F F I C E O F A D M I S S I O N S
December 15, 2023
Dear Ms. Mina Reynolds,
We are delighted to inform you that the Committee on Admissions has admitted you to the Class of 2028 under the Early Action admissions program. Please accept our personal congratulations for you outstanding achievements.
In recent years, we have received an average of over thirty thousand student applications for the twelve hundred and fifty places available in each freshman class. Faced with an increasingly competitive selection of talented individuals to choose from each year, the Admissions Committee only chooses students that show great strength in academia, extracurricular activities, and personal areas.
With each decision, we are confident that we have chosen the best and brightest students this world ha
