I pretended the ambulance was part of the parade

Dear Delyara, I am nine, and today my grandfather fell down during the Mardi Gras parade. Everybody was shouting, music was playing, and people kept reaching for beads while he was lying on the pavement. My mother told me to stand beside a police officer and not move. When the ambulance came, I told the little boy next to me that Grandpa was riding in a special parade truck because I did not want him to know I was scared. I kept waving at the ambulance until it turned the corner, even though nobody inside could see me. Grandpa is in the hospital now. Mom says his heart got confused but the doctors are helping it remember what to do. I still have three purple beads in my pocket. One landed on Grandpa’s chest while the paramedic was working, and another paramedic handed it to me before they left. Everyone says I was very brave. I was not brave. I was standing in the middle of the loudest street in the world wishing the music would stop long enough for me to hear whether my grandfather was still breathing.