12 YEARS LATER
I can hear birds chirping through the open window. I always loved having my window open at night. Now that is a luxury we are only afforded when in a 2 story house.
My eyelids are red, the sun must be shining bright already. I have never been a morning person. But I need to get up.
Knock. Knock. pause. Knock. Knock. Knock.
Luci. She has always been a morning person. I don't understand. At 8 I never had as much energy as she has. I don't know where she gets it. I open my eyes.
"Come in Luci."
My voice comes out as a husky morning voice. It sounds grumpier than I'd want. I guess that just shows how tired I am.
I roll over to face the door and sit up. Luci opens the door and skips into the room. She is always so chipper. It's nice to see that childlike hope in this world.
"Good morning Zeldaaa!" She sings to me.
She skips over to the chair next to the fireplace and sits down.
"How was the run last night Zel?"
"We all made it back in one piece," I say as I get up off the bed. "And that's all you need to know." As I walk over and ruffle her curly hair.
"Oh come on! I'm almost ninnne! Tell me what happened!"
"Luci keep your childhood as long as you can sweet girl," I say as I take her face in my hands. "You are going to wake up one day and realize you didn't even notice it was gone."
"Zellllda! Pleaseeeeee!"
"No Luci." I say ruffling her hair again.
"Luci! Come down and eat your breakfast."
"Ms Dorothy is calling you."
She gives me a pouty face, hops off the chair and skips out of the room.
I was so tired last night. I don't even know how late we got in. I collapsed into my bed as soon as we made it home. I'm not even sure how I got up the stairs. I just sort of ended up upstairs, standing over my bed.
I look in the mirror next to the bathroom door. God, I didn't even make it to the shower. I'm still in a black tee shirt and black jeans from last night. Covered from head to toe in goo from a pack of screamers. My hair is still up in a mid-high ponytail. My hair is covered too. Gross.
"Zelda honey, come down and get something to eat."
I walk over to the door. "Thank you, Ms Dorothy. I'm going to jump in the shower. I can make something when I'm finished." I close the door.
I leave my clothes all over the floor as I walk over to the bathroom. It takes a certain level of exhaustion for me to sleep in all my clothes.
From what I remember through the late, energy drained hours of last night I'm surprised I even took my shoes off. I was so tired... Did I even put myself to bed last night?
The warm water feels great on my back. I had no idea that your mussels could ache so much at 26. I stay in the shower way too long. I always have. I love the feeling of the warm water running down my back. I just stand there in the water for a while. Letting the warm water fill me up. Relaxing my muscles.
It isn't until I open my eyes and look down at the dark red water flowing down the drain I remember much gross goo is all over me. It takes about 4 washes to get the crap out of my hair. Why do I insist on having hair as long as a Disney Princess? I stand there for a little while longer after I get myself cleaned up.
When I finally manage to pull myself out of the shower I get dressed in my favourite maroon sleeved baseball tee, a pair of black skinny jeans and my black converse. I still feel like I have a hangover even though I haven't had alcohol in months.
I gather up my clothes and toss them in the basket at the foot of the bed. I look up and realize I must have fallen into bed while the goo was still a little wet. I strip the dirty sheets and toss them in too. I grab the basket and my bomber jacket off the chair and trudge into the hall. I leave the basket outside my door and make my way down the stairs.
Ms Dorothy is still in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast.
"Oh hello, honey. Glad to see your finally up. I'll whip up something for you."
"Oh no, Ms Dorothy. Please, you don't need to do that. I can make something quick for myself."
"Oh, no sweet dear." She says patting me on the back. "You need real food. Sit down at the breakfast bar and I'll make you some eggs, and potatoes."
I'm still tired and my body and head feel a bit like a steamroller hit me at the top speed of a race car so I comply. Ms Dorothy never takes no for an answer. I sit at the breakfast bar and watch her cook my food. She is such a sweet old woman. She has short brown hair with bits of grey sticking out. Tan skin and brown eyes. She is never seen without her white apron. It's always over whatever colourful floral dress she has on that day.
I offer to help and of course, she says no. She only excepts help with dinner when she cooks for everyone at once.
I eat with my mind still struggling to wake up. Coffee helps but not much. Thank god Ms Dorothy makes it strong or I wouldn't make it through most days.
Ms Dorothy wants to wash my plate and cup when I'm finished eating but I insist she let me do it.
"You've just gotten up darlin'. You were out late last night. Rest today. I'm happy to take after you kids."
"Thank you, Ms Dorthy."
I give the sweet old woman a gentle hug and trudge my way out onto the porch. Another fresh over-sized cup of coffee in hand. I sit down on the last of large porch steps.
I love these farmhouses. We are near the Washington Oregon border. A lot of lands has been highly developed around Seattle but there are still farmhouses down here. When you see this style of farmhouse you think of Georgia or Alabama. The old southern style white farmhouses. Ms Dorothy says it was built in the 1800s by some rich landowner moving out west to get more land than he would in the quickly developing south.
I love the design of it. It's huge with so many bedrooms. A beautiful massive kitchen. A formal dining room, a living room, a sitting room/den and a parlour. It's an old house but has been remodelled in recent years to have modern advancements in plumbing. Thank god.
Ms Dorthy said her only rule when buying this place is that her husband Authur would let her redesign the kitchen completely. I have to say I love what she did with the place. She also said she told him she wouldn't move in until she has a pot to piss in. Which made all of us howl with laughter the night she told us.
I esspecially love the massive porch. It extends to about 8 feet from the house with railing all around and it wraps around the whole house. The steps are 6 feet wide and the ceilings are 10 feet tall. It's not a fully closed porch, just a roof.
Ms Dorthy has porch swings about every 15 feet. Luci loves them. She loves to jump from one swing to another. She'll swing for a minute and then jump to the next. I really don't know where that girl gets her energy.
I rest my head on the post next to the steps. I could just sit here and watch the world go by. It's just so relaxing.