Katara's mom never drank goat-cow milk or juice. It was always tea, or water from the well in the backyard.
“It's good for you,” she told Katara, often enough to be annoying. “For a little waterbender, you don't drink a lot of water.” She ran a hand through Katara's hair, in the way she did when she was in a good mood.
Katara made a face. “It tastes gross,” she said.
“It's the natural minerals. They're good for you.”
So Mom kept drinking her well water, and eating bitter vegetables from her garden, and insisting that it was good for them even though no one else would try it.
And one day, she started feeling sick. She had a headache and she felt a little hoarse, and she thought she had a cold.
"I'll be fine," she told Dad. "Don't worry. I'll drink some water, and I'll feel better."
She smiled at Dad, and he kissed her, and then he went to work.
But she didn't get any better for a week, and then she started vomiting, and Katara saw blood in the toilet before her dad whisked her out of the bathroom.
They took her to the hospital, but it was too late.
Katara didn't find out what a lot of the words meant until later. Extreme heavy metal exposure. Groundwater pollution. Kidney failure and arsenic and corporate liability.
They lost her mother. They gained a lot of money in a settlement from the chemical company near their house. If they'd had the money in the first place, they might not have lived so close to the the chemical company. A lot of people apologized. Katara was numb for a while and then she was angry.
She should have slapped all those glasses of water out of her mom's hands. It'd tasted weird. Of course there'd been something wrong with it. She was a waterbender. She should have known.
What good was being a waterbender if she couldn't tell that the water in their well was poison?
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branchandroot
Kya
Date: 2010-01-04 06:17 am (UTC)“It's good for you,” she told Katara, often enough to be annoying. “For a little waterbender, you don't drink a lot of water.” She ran a hand through Katara's hair, in the way she did when she was in a good mood.
Katara made a face. “It tastes gross,” she said.
“It's the natural minerals. They're good for you.”
So Mom kept drinking her well water, and eating bitter vegetables from her garden, and insisting that it was good for them even though no one else would try it.
And one day, she started feeling sick. She had a headache and she felt a little hoarse, and she thought she had a cold.
"I'll be fine," she told Dad. "Don't worry. I'll drink some water, and I'll feel better."
She smiled at Dad, and he kissed her, and then he went to work.
But she didn't get any better for a week, and then she started vomiting, and Katara saw blood in the toilet before her dad whisked her out of the bathroom.
They took her to the hospital, but it was too late.
Katara didn't find out what a lot of the words meant until later. Extreme heavy metal exposure. Groundwater pollution. Kidney failure and arsenic and corporate liability.
They lost her mother. They gained a lot of money in a settlement from the chemical company near their house. If they'd had the money in the first place, they might not have lived so close to the the chemical company. A lot of people apologized. Katara was numb for a while and then she was angry.
She should have slapped all those glasses of water out of her mom's hands. It'd tasted weird. Of course there'd been something wrong with it. She was a waterbender. She should have known.
What good was being a waterbender if she couldn't tell that the water in their well was poison?