My Complicated Life

Chapter 17

“Whoa, what happened to the bed?” Jason yelled just loud enough for Uncle Dave to hear.

“Oh I got rid of it. Susan (sister) had this one, and I liked the mattress a lot better so I replaced the old one with this. Do you like it?”

“I guess for one person, but there is two of us,” Jason said.

“Y’all are young, you’ll fit just fine.”

“Maybe if we were eight,” Jason mumbled under his breath as Uncle Dave left the room. I soon realized that this room looked more like a good-sized walk in closet than a bedroom. When I saw two poles attached horizontally to each wall, I was sure that this was once a closet.

“How did a bigger bed even fit in here?” I asked.

“Well for one, that dresser over there wasn’t in here so the bad sat up against this wall and basically took up the whole room.”

Luckily it was already eight-thirty and we could soon go to bed. The only problem was that I slept for a couple hours in the car so I was not really tired. Jason left the room, and I followed him into the living room area. I felt a little annoying following him everywhere, but I felt the way you feel at a friend’s house that you have only been to once or twice, so you do not feel like you are allowed to go anywhere without them. In the living room were a couch, two chairs and a coffee table. The couch consisted of three cushions, two of which matched the beige couch itself, the third a light orange. I soon realized he had replaced one cushion with the orange due to the fact that this was probably the most uncomfortable couch I had ever sat on in my entire life. The other two chairs didn’t look much better, being that they were both left over chairs from the kitchen table. As I looked around the room, I could see pictures of what looked like family and friends.

On the coffee table laid all of us mail from what had to have been from the past year. All of the mail was addressed to Robert Davis, which reminded me that Dave was in fact not his real name. I actually asked Jason about this on the car ride to Noma because Dave Davis seemed like a strange name. Turns out, my dad and Uncle Dave’s dad was named Robert as well. So to clear confusion, they called him David as opposed to Robert. I cannot remember why they called him Dave other than maybe because it was similar to his last name.

Dave came and sat on the orange cushion and turned on the TV. His tired eyes scanned the screen as he searched through the channels. Jason came back into the room and sat in between us. Dave decided on a local news show, which I had no intention of watching aside from the fact that I had nothing else to do.

Around ten or so, Jason suggested that we go to bed. Normally I go to bed somewhere between eleven and eleven-thirty, but I was so tired it did not matter to me.

“So where is the shower?” I finally asked.

“Put on your bathing suit and I’ll show you.” Jason’s mom had reminded us both twice to bring a bathing suit. I already had a bad feeling about this. While Jason was in the living room talking to Uncle Dave, I quickly changed into my bathing suit and put an oversized t-shirt over it. Jason returned in a pair of basketball shorts and handed me a plastic bag, which contained soap, shampoo, and towels. I followed him out the back door and into the cold night to the side of the house.

“We’re freaking shower with a hose?” I asked, even though it was obvious. My teeth were already chattering and we hadn’t even gotten wet yet.

“Yeah. Here, you go first and I’ll hold the hose for you,” Jason said. I nodded and pulled the t-shirt over my head. As soon as my skin touched the water, my jaw was not the only thing shaking. Jason held the hose above my head as I lathered my hair with shampoo. I quickly covered and washed the soap off my body so that I could warm myself up with the towel. Trading places with Jason, I took the hose from him and quickly covered myself with the towel. It did not help that my legs were still exposed, and my hair was still soaking wet.

“Is this how Uncle Dave showers?” I asked. It was bad enough having to do this for just a few days, but year round would just be miserable.

“No, he has an actual shower, but I’m pretty sure he’s never cleaned it once. There’s literally mold growing up the sides and in the corners. One time, and the last time I used it, a scorpion came up from the drain.”

“So I guess this isn’t so bad,” I finally said after the vision of a scorpion coming out of a drain ran through my head.

“Better than that.”

When Jason finally finished, we headed back into the house and into the closet-sized bedroom. I had not used the bathroom since we arrived and desperately needed to, but after hearing about the shower, I was hesitant to using it. Grabbing my pajamas, which was really a t-shirt and sweat pants, I opened the door to the small bathroom, which barely fit a toilet and sink. The bathroom was not nearly as gross as I expected to be, to my relief.

Finally it was time to go to bed, though another one of our problems was just beginning. I’m honestly not even sure this could be considered a twin bed. I probably could not of even shared this with my now eight-year-old sister, let alone a grown seventeen-year-old.

“Um, well how about you get in first,” Jason said. I did as told and tried to lay as close to the wall as possible. “How about you lay on your side.” After I turned onto my side facing the wall, Jason got on the bed, laying down facing the opposite way. Our backs were touching, but it was bearable. Had I not known Jason so well prior to this trip, this entire day could have been extremely awkward. Even though I slept in the car ride here, I fell asleep with no problem.