Gamma Girl is buying a house. She wants it. They have to move because the current abode is no longer available, superheroine or not. She leaps tall buildings, she balances the checkbook, she pulls out the stops. Nothing can stand in her way. She will have the house.
"We've done it," she says, "The house is nearly ours."
Gamma Girl stops at Target with her daughter and sister. They run into another mother and daughter pair. They exchange pleasantries.
"Don't I look great for having had brain surgery yesterday?" says Gamma Girl.
It's so frightening, thinks the other mother. "Yes, you look great!" says the mother.
"My sister is down to visit." Introductions are made.
On they go, mission at Target: summer dress. The pickings are pretty slim, but mission accomplished.
Gamma Girl had Gamma Knife Surgery the day before. This is recurrent breast cancer. Second recurrence. In the form of headaches, that led to an MRI, that showed a mass in her brain.
Gamma Girl and her sister head out to Old Family Friend's later that day. The Walnut Farm and Spa. The Old Family Friends tell sister: "Gamma Girl is so brave. She handled that radiation yesterday so well."
"Screws in my skull to hold the halo on," laughs Gamma Girl. "Then they docked me into the machine, just like the space shuttle docking, this awesome click!"
Gamma Girl is cheerful and upbeat. She was put on steroids to reduce brain swelling. The steroids are making her nearly manic. "Gave my credit cards to Perch." she says, "I don't want to spend the house money."
She has dresses for dinner at the Old Family Friends'. They are each to pick a cocktail and dress as the drink. She is ultra glamorous, as befits a super heroine.
"How do I look?" she says, poised as a model in her flowing gown.
I was wishing so hard that the MRI would be negative, thinks sister. "Fabulous."
I am frightened for her and for my husband's sick brother, thinks Old Family Friend. "Beautiful and brave."
Daughter does not want to think. "Wow, mom."
I am afraid that I will lose her, thinks Perch. "My gorgeous wife."
This just sucks and life is unfair, thinks her friend, I hate this. "You'll make the cocktails jealous."
Gamma Girl posts a contest. "Write a super heroine story. About me, Gamma Girl. The more wild powers the better. The more action, the better. Blue skin is important."
The contest entries pile in. Gamma Girl to the rescue!
Gamma Girl goes to the battlefield, returns again and again. After the first two weeks, her mouth has sores and she is losing weight. She is nauseated. She hates being nauseated.
It's Friday. Time to return to battle. She dons a costume and her mask and her accoutrements, though they aren't really helping that much. She goes to the clinic. She greets the nurses, laughs and jokes. The nurses have xray vision, but they admire her mask and joke with her. She lies in the chair. The nurse wipes her chest with the swab and places the iv into the port. The bag is brought and hooked up. Gamma Girl takes a breath as the nurse opens the iv.
Gamma Girl is brave and she fights on.