Sara's Smile

Part 2

If you'll look to the right, you'll find your very own copy of Sara's bucket list ;-)

Announcing that she had an extra bedroom, Sara offered it to me. I tried to turn her down, but when she kept insisting, I caught on. She wanted to make sure that I held up my end of the deal, so my moving in with her was the perfect way to keep an eye on me. It occurred to me, what if she's secretly a serial killer, and therefore couldn't wait to get me back to her house? And then it occurred to me that since I'm suicidal, it really shouldn't matter. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how suicidal one was) Sara Lawrence turned out to be a one-hundred and ten percent decent, kind and all around terrific human being.

Since it was my decision what items she attempted to complete, I spent most of that evening going through the thirty-five possibilities, occasionally making notes and using the desktop computer in Sara's den for research. When I asked her if we could try to cross off more than one item in a day, she beamed, nodded, and referred to me as an overachiever. We both could donate plenty of time to fulfilling a few of these items during the week, as I had quit the burger restaurant Thursday and Sara, owning her own bakery, could take time off since she was the boss.

Sadie's Sweets (derived from Sara's nickname) is a bakery, which originally belonged to her mother. Having worked there since she was a preteen, Sara took over the business when her mother decided to retire seven years ago. Open Tuesday through Sunday, Sara mentioned rarely missing a day when she didn't go in, so she looked forward to taking the next week off.

Sunday

There were very few foods that I excelled at cooking, and one of those foods were pancakes. So, on the morning of our first bucket list day, I surprised Sara with pancakes. While we ate, I informed her that the first task to complete was the very first written on her list.

1. Get a tattoo

In the midst of sipping coffee, she loudly gulped while brown eyes widened, but there wasn't any argument. As we continued eating, we discussed what kinds of tattoos she liked and where she might want to get one placed. By the time we left, our destination the highly acclaimed tattoo parlor I found the previous night while Internet surfing, Sara had decided that she wanted something dainty either on an ankle, a hip or the back of a shoulder.

When we left the tattoo shop, underneath the bandage affixed to the back of her right shoulder was a butterfly around the size of a standard playing card, inked in black and shades of purple. Once she received the instructions on how to take care of it, I mentally modified the plans I had made thus far. Number ten on the list involved skinny dipping, which I thought easy enough to achieve. However, for the next few weeks, Sara would have to be careful when applying water to her healing tattoo, and swimming was definitely a no-no. I also intended on taking her to a bar with a mechanical bull that day, which was number fifteen. I scratched that off the list of things to do that week after imagining Sara losing her balance, falling on her back, that inked achy wound connecting with the floor.

So, we decided to take it easy for the remainder of the day. Taking a trip to the grocery store and Walmart for ointments, basic lotion and mild soap (to aid in the tattoo's healing) we headed back to Sara's house, where she taught me how to make brownies and chocolate chip cookies from scratch. It was fun, yet my favorite part was getting to eat my share of them with a tall glass of milk. With all that sugar racing through me, I'm surprised that I was able to sleep following a chick flick movie marathon.

Monday

Although I tried not to accept it, Sara wouldn't stop talking until I took her credit card. I was perfectly willing to use the one credit card that I owned to pay for the items on the bucket list, most of which weren't free. After all, since I didn't intend on being around at that time the following week, I wouldn't have to pay the minimum balance due. However, I tucked financially stable Sara's pretty gold card into my wallet. If it had feelings, my plastic rectangular form of payment would have been incredibly jealous.