I disclaim anything you recognize.
Small Town, USA
There's really only three seasons in the South. The rainy one, the windy one, and the hot one. Each one of these can last through the whole year long, but it's been Agatha Lynn's experience that the seasons usually stay where they belong, despite the fact that the temperatures can range between the low 60's and the high 90's at any time of the year.
March was a slow month at the start of the rainy season for Travelers Rest Inn, and it always had been, ever since the small bed + breakfast was opened some 35 years prior. Samson, Alabama wasn't exactly a hot spot of tourist activity, but Granma Lou Merle had always told her that "Every town's got to have one place to stay, child, and we might as well be it." Every year from March to November, Travelers Rest was open to the public and somehow managed to make enough money to keep being opened. This was the fifth year that Agatha was managing the place and she was once more hit with the wonders as to why. As she once again stared at the lobby in front of her and shook her head, wondering what had possessed her grandparents to open the place in the first place. Her grandfather Joe was a Veitnam veteran and her grandmother had been a nurse, and when they'd come back home her grandfather had found work in the construction business. Her grandmother had wanted to something to do with her spare time and so in March of 1975 they'd bought and opened Travelers Rest. She'd always thought that they were joking when they'd told her they'd met across a "battlefield of love" but when she'd found those pictures two years back of them before they were married she'd found that she'd been mistaken.
"Aggie Lynn, it ain't gonna clean itself, baby. You know that. No sense in you standin' there starin' at it." Her grandmother, 75 year old Lou Merle Noll bustled past her granddaughter with more energy than Agatha could imagine herself having at 75.
"Granma, I know I've asked this before but, why we gotta open this so early in the year? We don't ever get visitors up here this early." Agatha followed her grandmother behind the counter of the front desk and into the small office hidden behind a pale green door. It creaked open with a sigh and Agatha couldn't help the fact that her lip curled as a rather large cloud of dust found its way through the opening her grandmother had left.
"Now Aggie Lynn, how do you expect to get visitors if you ain't open?" Her grandmother poked her head back through the open door and grabbed ahold of Agatha's wrist. "Now, you remember how to take care of all the keys and things like that right?" Agatha turned on the light switch that her grandmother had neglected and stared at the fine layer of dust that had collected over everything in the office.
"Granma, you ask me that monthly. I haven't forgotten since November." She trailed a finger in the dust along the desk. "It's weird how much dust has collected in just three months. You'd think there wouldn't be this much since it's so humid." Her grandmother made a non-committal noise of agreement behind her and rummaged through the small closet, pulling out a broom, dustpan, mop and a few other cleaning supplies. She held them out triumphantly, pointedly ignoring the look on her granddaughters face.
"Now then. Let's get this done and we'll be back just in time for dinner. It's already almost noon. Your grandpa's making his specialty." She passed the broom and dustpan off to Agatha and went off in search of a faucet to fill the mop bucket with. Agatha looked down at the broom in her hand, around the room and then at the door her grandmother had just passed through.
"It's gonna be a long day."
A/N: Okay, so here's our introduction to our O.C. I do apologize if it seems that things are starting off slowly, but bear with me and I promise that it'll get better. Also, reviews would be lovely, as they help an author to grow. ^_^