In August of 2005, tragedy hit America. Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern states, and left many buildings and lives in ruins. Once proud cities, were left barren and desolate. This devastation was a neon sign and calling card for my father Richard. He's always felt it was his duty to repair to broken and help the fallen. He is a surgeon, and works mostly in the ER. When the storm hit he packed up and left my mother and I in Minnesota while he went down south. My mom stayed up north with me because I was just a freshman in high school at the time, and she just got a new position at the hospital that she's been wanting forever. It was just easier to split up our family than uproot our lives. My dad now lives in New Orleans and visits as often as possible, but its been a couple months since I've seen him. Four years passed so quickly, and surprisingly we were able to keep our small family content even though the distances were so great.
At my high school graduation, my mother Helen ran to hug me screaming "GREAT JOB HONEY! Your father and I are so proud of you!" I smiled, happy as can be. I'm always in such a great mood when my family is together, but now I was super happy because finally we could all move down south and there wouldn't need to anymore distances between us. My father opened up a free clinic in New Orleans, and has been fixing and restoring a house for us to live in ever since. After many hugs and "I love yous" from my parents, we went out to dinner to celebrate this happy moment.
"I'm so excited that we all get to be together now! No more distance! I'm going to miss here, but I need adventure in my life! I'm just so glad we can finally be a family!" I said excitedly as I stuffed my mouth with Alfredo. Right after the words left my mouth I felt the mood of the atmosphere change. My parents started shuffling around nervously in their seats looking guiltily at one another.
“Um, honey. Your father and I have some news to tell you” my mom started quietly.
“Its been pretty rough these last past years having to split our family up, but we both have so much we want to do with our lives that difficulties are bound to arise. But we always find a way to make it through them.” She started playing with the hem of her skirt, and looked guiltily at me. She opened her mouth to speak, but then fell silent and took a breath.
“There is no easy way to tell you this, so I'm just going to spit it out. I was offered a chance of a lifetime to go to Africa and help people who really need it, and... I accepted it. You're leaving with your father in a couple of days to go live with him in New Orleans.” My mouth fell open. Finally when I was going to get my family together my mom has this desire to leave? I was speechless.
“Your mother and I love you very much, and we are very proud of you. I told her that you would be very understanding and should take this once in a life time chance to fulfill her life long dream. Besides Ana, you're going to love New Orleans. There is so much to do and see!” my father tried his best to cushion the low blow, but it was still sinking in.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked hoping for her to say only a month or a week even, but that was silly. Things along these lines were always long term.
“I'm going for six months at first, then if the village will let us...the group of doctors going will try to stay longer. We just don't know, but for the mean time you will get to spend time with your father.” she said. Wow. Guess this was already a done deal, and I had no say so in it what so ever.
A week later and I was stuck in a halfway fixed up house alone with my laptop, a bunch of boxes, and a sadness that was not welcome. I had told my mother good bye two days before, and hugged her for a long while just crying into her shoulder. She was my best friend, and I didn't want her to leave, but then again I didn't want to hold her back from her dreams. I didn't know when I would see her again, and I had a feeling that this unwelcome sadness was there to stay in her place.
My father needed to get back to his clinic, and was gone for most of the day everyday. The first week there I just felt sad and lonely and wanted desperately to go back home to Minnesota with my momma. Once the weekend hit however, I felt it was time to pull myself together and get everything unpacked and possibly even fix up and paint my room. I needed to turn living into New Orleans into my own little African adventure. I started with the boxes full of clothes, and put them all away, I made my bed with my favorite zebra comforter, and down pillows. I lit candles to freshen the place up, and fixed the rest of my room up with my pictures and random items. After a days work I felt better at having done something productive. It was still light out, and I was kinda hungry so I decided to go for a walk to get something to eat. After all, that was one thing I was looking forward to about New Orleans, the food ROCKS!
I drove around a little while and ended up parking on a side street a little distance away from a cafe. I ate some jambalaya sitting next to a girl about my age named Chelsey. She was surprisingly talkative and extremely friendly. I felt oddly comforted by her presence, and was glad that I was finally making friends in this city that I now call home. We talked for hours about everything and nothing. I felt like I'd been knowing her for years and not just minutes. She was very pretty with light brown hair and bright green eyes. Around nine o'clock she got a call on her cell, and once she hung up she look at me excitedly. “Are you doing anything tonight?” she asked?
“Nope, I'm completely free of everything at the moment. Why, whats up?” I replied.
“Well I just got a call from a girlfriend of mine, and she wants to go clubbing. And I just figured that maybe with you being new to the city and all you might want to tag along?”
I thought about it for a couple seconds, then replied “well I would like to go, I just don't have anything to wear. I've never really gone out to parties and stuff. So all my nice clothes aren't really sexy, but are just formal.”
She laughed and said, “hmmm. Well you and I are about the same size, you can borrow some of my clothes. You have a lot more boobs than I do, so you'll be able to fill out tops I look ridiculous looking in.”
“Umm, I guess. Let me just call my dad and I guess we can go. Thanks for inviting me, I really needed to get out of that house.”
“Its my pleasure she replied, plus I love making new friends!” she replied sincerely.
Two hours later and I was all dolled up wearing a low cut, clingy halter top, a nice pair of black short shorts, and some high heels. Chelsey insisted on doing my hair and make up, and I'm super glad she did. My hair was half up and half down, with a slight curl to it. As we walked down Bourbon Street, the city was a buzz with night life. There were so many strip clubs, and drunk people walking around it make me feel uneasy wearing the skimpy little outfit I borrowed from my new found friend. We ended up in some club, dancing to music that was loud enough to drown out your own thoughts.
“Would you like something to drink” a raspy voice asked me. I turned around and was staring face to face with a short little Mexican guy that look about twenty-five.
“Um, no thank you. I'm fine.” I halfway shouted into his face. I felt very uneasy with how this guy was rudely staring down at my 36DD chest without even trying to cover it up.
“Come on baby, I'll treat you right.” he said to me, breaking his eye contact with my chest only for a split second.
“Hey Ana! We're about to leave. Do you wanna come with?”shouted Jessica, a friend of Chelsey that I had met earlier.
“Yeah!” I shouted back, and turned to quickly made my way to her and away from Mr. Creepy.
“Thank you so much for saving me, that guy was so gross!”
“No problem, I hate when guys do that. They just need to get a life. So do you wanna stay here or go down the street?”
“We can do what ever you and Chelsey want, just as long as the creepy guy doesn't come with.”
At that Jessica laughed, and the night continued on back on track. I was finally having fun, and it was actually with people my own age. I just felt like this night couldn't get any better.
“Hey Ana, we got someone to get us drinks, you want something?” asked Chelsey.
“Um, I've never drank before, but I guess tonight is a night for a bunch of firsts. Sure. Just don't ask me what because I don't know.” I said honestly. I was bound and determined to turn this night into something unforgettable.
The drink she brought back was something fruity and tasted wonderful, definitely not what I expected. After about half of the drink was gone, I started feeling funny and just very happy. I danced with a couple different guys, but none of them really made an impact on me. I was just dancing and having fun with some new found friends. It was odd how all these guys kept looking at me...like I was cute or something.
TELL ME IF SHOULD KEEP GOING...
I HAVE A BUNCH OF IDEAS...
