An Imperial Affliction

My Cancer Buddy (Still editing this chapter)

Chapter 1- My Cancer Buddy

Mother's glass eye turned inward. "Time to go," she said, and together we left our medium sized brick California house for the last time. It was time for a new beginning. The date was May 13th, 2001 and we were ready. My mother and I were going to write a new story.

My name was Anna, which meant favour or grace. I was not very graceful at all though, so perhaps my name meant the other kind of grace. Although, if it meant that kind of grace, then what was the point of writing it down as another meaning, when it meant nearly the same thing as favour?

At the age of fifteen, I was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer called Leukemia. Often, I became terribly  exhausted or weakened. Twice, I nearly got anemia. I worked with an overly friendly oncologist to develop a treatment plan.

The day of my diagnosis was May 7th, 2001, approximately a year and a half after my mother finally beat her eye cancer once and for all. Although, afterwards, she only had one eye and the other eye was an empty socket in which a glass eye sat. My father left us the afternoon that he found out about my blood cancer. I knew that he had been struggling. When, my mom had cancer, they fought all the time. I guess that maybe my father just didn't want to go through that again. I'll never really know though, since he just ran away and never came back.

If only my father stayed a little longer... I was soon in remission by that time the next year.

My mother and I moved away from our normal lower-middle class life in a little central California town to another house on the outskirts of  that exact same town about a week after I was said to be in remission . I wasn't too happy about it, but my mom said that we needed a new start. So, I packed up my bags, and one week later, I found myself on 917 W. Temple. Our new house was a small condo, near the beach. My mother and I could have bought one right on the beach for a very similar price, but my mom said that it would interfere with her tulips because she was a professional gardener, so we stuck with near the beach. There were only two other houses in the sector. Only one other was occupied. The house next to ours had a SOLD sign in front of it. I supposed that someone would be living there quite soon.

As soon as my mom and I pulled our Toyota Corolla into our new house, my mom said, "Quick, Anna, go get my tulip seeds."

I got her tulip seeds.

"Okay, Anna... Go into town and buy me some soil. There are a few little beach town shops down there." My mom pointed the way.

I held out my hand for the money. She tossed in $50.

"Get the best soil they've got."

"Okay." I said and then I began my walk into the little BeachTown area by my house.

The air tasted salty and I could smell the ocean as I made my way along the cement sidewalk. I thought of the fish I used to catch with my father when I was young, the way we would sit there for hours at a time until something would yank hard on my line and my father would help me reel it in. Then, I remembered his deep laugh that would echo off the walls and vibrate within my whole body. Lastly, I remembered the day my parents started fighting and the day that my father left us. Deep inside, I think I still had hope that I would see him again. Someday, at least.

I located the miniature little garden shop, just seconds after I began scanning the street. It was very tiny, but very inviting, with all sorts of roses and hydrangeas decorating the front walkway and doors. I headed straight towards it, on my little tulip mission.

When I opened the door, a little bell chimed and a fifty year old or so woman waddled over to me. "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for soil- really good, fertile soil." I told her quickly.