Anna was the least helpful of all the children in the house. This was through no fault of her own. When you are only 6, there is only so much you can do.
Her older brothers who were 10, 13, and 15 respectively, and liked nothing more than to avoid her like the plague. Every time Anna came around she would utter the phrase, "can I help?"
At some point in her early years Anna got it in her head that her brothers would not want to play with a girl, so helping them do things was the only way to be part of their world.
Anna walked up to the youngest of her older brothers Frank, and asked if she could help. "Can I help you build the Legos Frank?"
"No Anna, you will just build it wrong?" Frank said without even looking up.
"But, I am good at Legos now. Please Frank." She pleaded.
"Sorry Anna, but this Lego set is 8 and up. You are only 6. Maybe you should go play with the duplos is the sitting room." Said Frank, as he gently pushed her out his room and closed the door.
Anna sad she was not able to help Frank went to go see if Jack would let her help. Anna ran to the backyard where Jack was throwing his baseball against the net. Anna loved to go to the baseball games to watch Jack play because of all the hot dogs and sodas she was able to have there.
"Hi Jack." Anna shouted. Unintentionally Anna startled her brother and he took the baseball to the head
"Ow! Dammit Anna! Shouted Jack.
"Sorry Jack." Anna sadly said as she picked up the ball. She walked over to her brother and noticed a knot starting to grow. She gave a little chuckle, but Jack was not amused.
"It's not funny, Anna. What do you want?" He angrily said as he snatched the ball back from her hand.
"I wanted to help you with your baseball game." Anna said.
"Help? How can you help? I just throw the ball against the net." Jack said as he set into his pitching stance again.
"I can get the ball for you if you miss." Anna said excitingly. She loved playing catch, but none of her siblings liked to play with her. Mostly, it would turn into keep away and she never got to hold the ball.
"One, I don't miss. And two, don't you have something better to do? I think Dad said he needed help in the garage." Jack said to her. "If you hurry you can catch him before he goes to work.
Anna excited to help her dad, didn't realize that Jack was just pushing her away. Anna made it to the garage and her dad was packing his car for his trip. He had to deploy for 6 months. At least that is what everyone kept talking about. All she knew is she would not see him for a very long time "Hi daddy!" Anna ran up and gave her dad one of her epic squeeze hugs.
"Hi princess. What do you need, daddy is very busy?"
"I wanted to help."
"I am just packing the car. Why not go play" said her dad as he continued to put his bags in the trunk.
"But I am the best packer daddy. Look how strong I have gotten." Anna picked up one of the bags but was struggling. She was dragging the bag across the ground over the fresh garage flooring he had just put down a week ago.
"Princess it's okay, that is heavy. Let me get it." But before he could stop her there was a big mark on the flooring.
"Oops, sorry daddy." Anna looked at the mark she had made and felt bad. " What about this bag? It is small." Anna grabbed the smaller camera bag next to her lifted it with ease.
"Be careful that is expensive." Her dad said, but in hindsight probably not the smartest thing to say at that moment.
"What did you say?" Anna asked, as she turned around swinging the camera bag in the process. Causing the bag to whip against the car causing a large dent. Anna without thinking dropped the bag to on the ground. "Sorry." Was all she could think of saying.
Her dad picked up the camera bag and started to rub the dent on his car. "Enough, Anna. Go play. "Her dad said in his not so nice tone.
Anna ran inside with tears in her eyes. She saw her mom inside making dinner and thought that the stirring looked like fun. "Hi mommy. Can I help with dinner."
"Not tonight dear. I have a million things still to do." Her mom said without looking up from her recipe book.
"But I can help mommy. I am really good at stirring." Anna said trying to get on the stool to see what her mom was making.
"I said, not tonight. Now go play." Her mom said a little more sternly.
Anna became insistent on helping. "Please mom. No one wants to play with me, and there is nothing else to do."
Anna's mom gave in and handed her the bowl. Anna overly excited grabbed the bowl, but only with one hand. Before she knew it, the bowl was heading to the floor with everything spilling out in the process. Anna's mom did not look happy and Anna knew what came next after that look.
"Anna Marie Johnson! What have you done? This is why I cannot get anything done around here. Now get out of the kitchen and go do something." Anna did not wait for her mom to say anything else. She just ran to her room and slammed the door shut.
Anna ran into her bed and pulled the covers over her face. She felt as of she was just a big doo doo head that couldn't do anything right. She laid there crying for awhile before deciding to get up. She paced around her room for a bit picking up different toys, but never doing anything with them. The she saw her drawing board and thought of her oldest brother. She grabbed her coloring kit and ran to Luke's room. He was always doing some kind of painting that she loved to watch him do while she tried to copy his work.
She burst into Luke's room and found him by the window working on another landscape painting. "Hi Luke." She didn't get a response though. She shouted a little louder but still nothing. She didn't realize the small earbuds that were in his ear. She walked up and tugged at his arm, but that was not a good idea. When she tugged on his arm it caused his brush to smear across his painting.
Luke just stared at his little sister like she was the devil. Anna never felt smaller. She just backed away slowly. "STAY OUT!" Luke yelled as she closed the door.
The rest of the day till dinner Anna stayed in her room for fear of making another mistake. When she was called down to dinner she ate in silence as everyone talked around her. Her mom was forcing Jack to hold an ice pack to his head. Her dad was googling how to get a dent out of a car. Frank was talking to no one in particular about how close to done he was with his Lego build. Luke was on the phone with his girlfriend talking about how his little sister ruined her painting. Anna felt bad enough throughout the day, but this just made it worse. All her mistakes in view all at once. Anna quickly slipped off not feeling hungry anymore. She went to bed sad, hungry, and upset that she caused so much sadness and anger.
The next day Anna was woken up by her mom to get ready for school. What the family didn't know was how much Anna did to get everyone ready the next day. She would always run out to get the morning paper and put it on her dad's favorite reading chair. She did not do that this morning. She would make sure Frank's lunch box made it in his bag when she got hers, but she did not do that this morning. She always cleaned up Jack's mess of school papers from his homework and put them in his bag, but she did not do that. She made sure Luke got up for the third time because he could sleep through a nuclear bomb. She also did not bother to do this that morning. The last thing she always did was tell her mom how much she loved her because it brought a smile to her face. Anna decided to not even do that this morning either. Instead she silently ate her breakfast, packed her lunch, put on her coat, hung her bus tag around her neck and headed out the front door.
"I love you." Anna's mom shouted. Anna turned looked at her mom and silently just closed the door and ran to meet her bus.
Anna's mom felt a little sadness come up as she realized she did not say anything to her that morning. Dad was perplexed at where his paper was. He didn't get to read it that morning because going outside to get it never dawned on him. He spent most of his time on his hands and knees looking for it under the couch. Luke was very late for school, as no one thought to wake him up for the third time. Anna's mom had to take time off of work to drive in Frank's lunch because he had forgotten it. Jack forgot his homework, and not only that, all his notes for the open book pop quiz were there as well.
Anna was not always the greatest help. But Anna did more to help then most gave her credit for. That night Anna's parents went into Anna's rooms and without saying a word just hugged her. They stayed in that embrace for several moments. Hoping there little princess would understand what a kind, gentle hearted soul she was. And told her how much they appreciated all her help. Anna kept her parents in that embrace for several moments before finally saying how much she loved them. When she uttered the phrase, "can I help with dinner?"