Two Sisters, One Heart
By: Agnes Dodge
Tags: Short Story, Outliers, Fiction, Family, Love

Two Sisters, One Heart

A tale of love & compassion

Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

“We have great news,” says Daddy, putting his feet over the coffee table after grabbing the remote control. “We’re going to Uncle Bob’s log cabin next weekend.”

“Really?” I ask, jumping in excitement. My dream has finally come true! “How long till next weekend?”

“Yes, how long?” my younger sister Maddy asks behind me. She’s frowning. She doesn’t seem as excited, but I turn my glance back to Daddy, eager to hear his answer.

“Well, today is Sunday. So that means…,” Daddy’s voice trails off, and I know he’s getting ready to “scare” me. “Six days!” he says in a shout. I scream in joy and giggle.

I make my happy dance with Daddy and I grab Maddy’s hand so she can join us. But she doesn’t. She turns around and goes upstairs. Daddy doesn’t notice that, but I do.

I follow Maddy back into her room after Daddy goes back watching his favorite show. My little sister’s room is ridiculously pink if you ask me. I’m almost ten, so I don’t need to be that girly. But Maddy has too many Barbie princesses, too much “Disney” on the wallpaper. Her room looks like a castle. But I understand, she’s only seven. I was like that when I was seven too.

I try to cheer her up. “Aren’t you excited about going to Uncle Bob’s cabin, Maddy? We can go swimming every day. And the lake isn’t too deep for you anymore, since you’ve grown. The water probably hits you right here on your neck…” As I motion to touch her, Maddy pushes my hand away. I can tell she’s about to cry.

“What’s wrong?”

She lowers her head. “Nothing, Anna.”

“Don’t you want to go to the cabin?”

She stutters. I can’t understand her at first, but then she tries again, and her words come out.

“Is Uncle Bob going to be there, or is it going to be just us?”

I frown. “I don’t know. Last time he showed up for a day or two, but most of the time it was just us, remember?”

She nods. “Okay.”

Maddy stares at her dollhouse for a second and then tells me, “I’m happy.” Then she is already playing with her Barbies and ignoring me before I get more from her.

I go to the swing outside and I swing as high as I can. I want Maddy to be excited about our trip but I feel that she isn’t thrilled about it. It’s been a while since we last went away, Daddy, Mommy, Maddy, and me. Daddy and Mommy are always too busy with work, so it is nice when we get to spend time together.

As I swing higher and higher, trying to reach the sky, I remember a day when we were at the cabin.

We swam. A lot. Maddy and I almost got sunburned because we refused to apply sunscreen every thirty minutes. Mommy yelled at us from the cabin, telling us not to swim at the deep end. We ate marshmallows and smores by the fire. We told ghost stories to each other in our teepee at night. But mostly, we laughed. All day long.

Uncle Bob came to stay with us a day and brought his fishing rod. He wanted to show Maddy how to fish since Maddy has always been fascinated by fish. Before her interest with princesses and heroes, she liked Nemo the best. I really never cared about fish, though. They’re smelly and slimy, and I’m actually afraid to touch them. But I was happy that Maddy was going to learn how to fish.

Then I remembered something. In the morning, before the fishing trip, Maddy and Uncle Bob were on the balcony, and he was teaching Maddy how to get the bait onto the hook. I watched them, unnoticed.

“Like this, Uncle Bob?” Maddy asked.

“Yes, exactly,” he said, touching her face. “You know you’re a very pretty girl, right, Maddy? You’ll be even prettier than your mom, but don’t tell her that.”

Uncle Bob played with her hair and touched her shoulder. It was a weird thing because Daddy never touched our shoulders like that.

I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to come in and say hi. “Uncle Bob, when are you guys going?”

“Actually, we’re on our way,” Uncle Bob said, a little rushed. “Are you ready, Maddy?”

I only saw them again two hours later, after they returned from the trip on Uncle Bob’s boat. I was counting the minutes to see them again. I was excited to see how many fish they’d got.

None. They got no fish. Maddy looked very disappointed. I remember telling her, as she made her way to the bedroom and shut the door behind me, “You’ll have better luck next time, Maddy. Maybe the fish went somewhere else.”

But she didn’t respond. And she barely spoke about her boat trip with Uncle Bob.

My stomach suddenly knots at this memory, and I stop swinging. I look up and I see Maddy watching me from her bedroom upstairs. I wave at her but she moves away. My heart breaks.

It’s Saturday morning. Daddy is ready for the trip, and so is Mommy. I stayed up all night, thinking. I had to do something.

I run into the bathroom and splash water onto my shirt. Then I go downstairs.

“I’m sick, Daddy,” I say.

His eyes widen as he sees my shirt. “Oh my God, Anna, what’s wrong?”

“I threw up all night. Look at what happened to my shirt,” I point at the wet spots.

“I did too,” Maddy says, joining in, her eyes wide. “I threw up and I am feeling sick.”

I hold my sister’s hand, and she gives me a tiny smile.

I look back at Daddy and Mommy. “I think we’re sick. It must be a bug. Can we stay?”

Mommy and Daddy nod. They’re really afraid of bugs. Last time Maddy ended up in the hospital for fluids and I was in forced “quarantine” because they didn’t want me to be sick and end up in the hospital too.

Maddy holds my hand tighter and I can feel love and gratitude when she stares at me. Her eyes are little teary, but I don’t think she is sad at that moment.

I then promise myself, in that small living room, with water all over my shirt, to love my little sister and to watch her back forever.