Pelliccia (Book1) (2011 Sci-fi Watty Awards Winner)

Chapter 1

Year 2012

It was dark and cold outside. Sara could barely make out the few stars in the semi cloudy night. She had been riding for hours in the back seat of her dads green minivan. Her brother Joey was passed out cold lying in the seat next to her wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket with a picture of a Polar Bear on a black background.

 It was only a month ago that she had the perfect life. She had many friends, but she had only one best friend. Jenny Paige was her friend since kindergarten.  Jenny had moved away shortly after kindergarten, but she came back 4 years later. Sara and Jenny had sat next to each other in 4th grade and they were best friends ever since.

At recess they would play tag and hang on the monkey bars. In school Jenny was the smart one she rarely studied for the class yet seemed to always get straight A’s. When it came to school work Sara seemed to always have other things she’d rather be doing like reading. Oh how she loved to read.

Sara would read all types of books classics like A Christmas Carol and Treasure Island, Fantasy books like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia. She liked Science fiction books by H.G. Wells, and Michael Crichton. She even read western books by Louis L’Amour. Some of her favorite books were Thrillers and horrors by Stephen King or James Patterson.

Jenny shared the same passion for reading except Jenny liked to read books like Algebra 101 and Statistics for smarties. Jenny also enjoyed reading scientific journals and dissertations on various topics.

When Jenny and Sara were together there was sure to be a mess made, or stretching the limits of the law. They never did anything real criminal they were just kids always ready to skirt the edge.

Like the time Jenny pulled out a big tub of peanut butter from her mother’s pantry that had been stored for well over the prescribed shelf life. They decided to take it down to the “demolitions Lot”, which was nothing more than a dead end road about a quarter mile outside of town that just happened to have a cement parking barrier which made a perfect observation point for any demolitions nearby.

 Jenny had made an explosive out of a whistling pete they had acquired. Sara stuck that whistling pete right in the center of the 5lb tub of peanut butter, lit it and ran. All Jenny saw was Sara running away from a wall of peanut butter chasing her.  It was the coolest explosion they ever made.

 “Boy’s never have this much fun!” They both proclaimed as they rode their bikes back home.

All those times are over now. Sara was on her way to Stollery Children’s hospital.  A month ago she had started getting sick, weak and tired.  She was eventually diagnosed with cancer. 

She had been riding in the car for the past 12 hours now, and they just started to see lights from the city as they approached Edmonton. She looked over at her brother sleeping quietly next to her.

He’s so lucky she thought, he had no health problems not a care in the world. He could run, jump and swim. All I can do now is sit, lay and try to think the pain away.

Sara looked up at her father who was looking pretty tired as he drove under the street lights that whizzed by with a steady rhythm. He was sad, almost with a tear in his eye. She had never seen her father that way before. He was always a hard worker and dedicated father. He was happy and energetic. Since the diagnosis he had worried himself into a sleepless wreck. 

He had never purchased insurance in the U.S. mainly because he believed Canada’s health system was far superior. Fortunately for him he was a Canadian citizen, and even more fortunate for Sara she was a dual citizen.

So Sara’s father drove the 1,335 miles from Colorado Springs to Edmonton. As they pulled up to the old mansion Sara could see the iron fence wrapped around the grounds. It had two brick pillars on either side of the walkway to the entrance. One of the pillars had a plaque clearly stating this was the Ronald McDonald house and that it was established in 1985.