Annie

Annie is gone and it's hard to accept. It shouldn't be, because for decades she fought every imaginable kind of cancer, wrote books about surviving her ordeals, gave speeches, had university buildings dedicated to her and empowered thousands of people to fight on against long odds. Annie should have died in the 1980s, for sure in the 1990s, and definitely in 2001 and 2003 and 2005. She couldn't have had many original parts left but nothing ever slowed her down. And she never stopped being fun to be around.

When Duck and Plottie went East in 2006 to hear her speak, it was hard to find a free moment to talk to her. She was surrounded by admirers, mostly women, who had read her books and heard her speak and felt that together with Annie they could survive anything. They lined up for over an hour to get her to sign a copy of her book, to whisper something to her, to shake her hand. She was a star. She should have had background singers.

This morning, Plottie is waiting for a medical professional to arrive at his house to run him through various tests because he is taking out a life insurance policy. There is nothing wrong, but Plotnik hates these kinds of things and he's been avoiding it for years. Before they give you the policy, they send over Mr. Lin at 9:45.

So Plot is thinking about Annie, so he won't go through his usual angst over having to donate a few Great Plotfluids. It's working, because he keeps laughing, when he thinks about Annie painting 'Fowl Manors' on their barn, all these years ago, or the sign "Cut Here" she lettered on her abdomen before one of her many surgeries.

She was Ducknik's stepsister, you know. Duck and Annie had grown up together as children of best friends, but when Duck's mom and Annie's dad died within weeks of each other, Joe married Ruth and now the five kids were related.

The Smith family summer cottage at Sunny Point on Keuka Lake in upstate New York was the best. Annie was an artist and art teacher, and she has donated the cottage and barn to a nearby arts school to use as an arts retreat. The whole family spent wonderful times there and Annie loved the place more than anywhere in the world. It's nice to know it'll still be loved and painted in.

Look closely and you see her in front of the house. Really. She's there, right where she belongs.