Life Of Dreams

Chapter 6

The knock on the door brought me out of my brooding and back into the present.  Gladys Maser stood at my door, shoulders drooping from the weight of the bulging shopping bags she carried in each hand.  I let her in and took one of the bags as she placed a kiss on my cheek and bustled past me.  She was such a sweet woman, and so energetic, especially for her age.  Her diminutive size gave the impression that she was frail, but I would never call her that.  However, it was still hard to imagine that she raised five boys mostly by herself and each of them had gone on to be strong successful men.  Once I had gotten to know her, I realized that although she didn’t suffer fools easily, she still could talk a blue-streak.

Nodding to the bag I now held, which contained a week’s worth of my mail, she kept on going straight to my kitchen and said over her shoulder.  “You really love those celebrity magazines, don’t you?  Didn’t even know they printed some of them anymore.  Hope you don’t mind that I browsed through a couple.  You look pretty good, considering.”  She placed the other bag on my counter and started pulling out milk, eggs, and other foodstuffs.  “I knew you would need some supplies, almost everything left in your fridge had to be thrown out.”

I just watched from the doorway of the kitchen as she stowed things away and then put some water on for tea.  Finished with those tasks, she ushered me back into my own living room.

“Well, how do you think it looks?”

I just stared at her uncomprehending.

“The house cleaning?  When your co-worker, Alison, came over to get your things, we had a nice long chat.  The office wanted to do something for you, so they hired a company to clean your place while you were gone.  They figured that you wouldn’t be able to do much with your broken ankle and coming home to a nice tidy house always brightens everyone’s day."

 

I smiled weakly, afraid to hurt her feelings.

 

"They were really good too, very thorough.  I had just received a coupon in the mail for this new company that opened up right next to the Wal-Mart, Sparkling Support, they call it.  It had a special for people who have injuries or shut-ins.  Wasn’t that fortunate?  It’s as though someone up there was looking out for you.  They spent all day Tuesday and a few hours this morning finishing up.”

“But, you let them go through my things?  How do you know they didn’t take something?”  I rapidly scanned the room and the items on the shelves; everything looked so different.  “I may be missing something.”

 “Now don’t you worry, I stayed right here with them.  If you do think something is gone, possibly the cleaning crew moved them about a bit or maybe you’ve just misplaced them.  That knock on your head would have caused anyone to forget where they’ve put things.  But if you want, I’ll help you look.  What do you think you’re missing?”

“Umm, no, that’s okay.  You’re probably right.  I just need a day or two to get myself together.  My place has never been so clean, it’s just disorienting.”

Gladys smiled understandingly.  The tea kettle sang and she went back to the kitchen.  I looked around the room again, and although I really couldn’t pinpoint it, nothing seemed right.  Maybe it is because the place is so clean.

I could hear her busily preparing the tea and when she came out, she held a tray containing the tea plus some of her famous walnut-double-chocolate cookies.  We sat, me on the couch with my cast encased leg up on the coffee table and Gladys in the wingback chair.

It was nice to have someone to take care of me and fuss.  I hadn’t had anyone do this for me in ages.  I gave Gladys the details about the accident and how my injuries were healing.  She was very sympathetic and offered her support.  After about a half hour the medication I had taken began to wear off and bongo drums started playing in my head.  The effort to even listen, let alone talk, was much more than I could handle.  Gladys seemed to sense this and started to move herself toward the door.

 “Now, just let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

After finally convincing her I didn’t need anything more at the moment, I was able to get her out and closed the door.

I knew I needed to take another pill and lie down, but first I took a pad and pen and started jotting down things I just had to do. 

One: call Alison and thank her and the group for the house cleaning.  I had to admit it was the cleanest it had ever been.  All of my current magazines were stacked nicely in the rack and by publication, year and month no less.  The last few years of magazines were stacked neatly under the coffee table.  I normally didn’t keep past year’s magazines, unless of course, Trent was in them. 

Two: really go through the house to find out if anything was missing.  That would help alleviate this feeling I just couldn’t shake.

Three: figure out how to contact Trent.  I knew from past experience, that trying to get him on the phone was next to impossible, there were too many ‘handlers’ to go through to actually get to him.  I would have to rely on trying some type of code that when relayed to him, would identify me.  But how could I possible do that?  It was Trent who always got in contact with me whenever he knew Gwen wouldn’t be any the wiser. 

And number Four?  I was sure there was a number Four, but just couldn’t come up with it right away.  I got up, took another pill then dragged myself to my bedroom and climbed into bed.  Sleep, that’s what I  needed.