I woke up at seven and called the school. "Hello, this is Amary Jones at William McKinley High School," the receptionist said into the phone.
"Hi, Ms. Jones, it's Marissa Von Bleicken," I said into the receiver, "I was just letting you know I won't be coming in today."
"Are you sick or is this a family emergency?" she asked, "I need to know for filing."
"A nurse for my father is moving in," I explained.
"I'll put down family emergency," she said, "Goodbye, Ms. Von Bleicken."
"Bye," I said, putting down the phone. I laid back down in bed for another two hours.
The doorbell rang, interrupting my precious sleep. I groaned, got up, and walked down to open the door. The dark-haired nurse looked at me in surprise. I suddenly realized I hadn't brushed my hair or teeth, or changed clothes. "Sorry, I just woke up," I said, rubbing my forehead, "Here, come in." I opened the door further and grabbed the cardboard box in her hands.
I led her up to Kinsey's old room. It was a light yellow with white trimming. The bed was a white, metal day bed with a white bedspread and yellow pillows. There were white curtains and a white wicker chair. There was also a white vanity to the side of the window near the closet. An empty bookshelf sat in the corner vacant except for a few white ceramics my mom had made.
My mom had been an artist. Almost all our plates and bowls had been made and painted by her. I had a giant black vase that held a small tree in my room that she'd made.
"Those are important," I said, motioning to the ceramic cat and dog, "I'll get those out of the way." I picked them up. "I'm going to go get dressed and then I'll give you a tour." She nodded and I went into my room, ceramics in hand.
I put out my green and black lizard print hip skirt and put it over my white button up shirt that I rolled up to my elbows. I slipped on black studs into my ears and silver bangles on my left wrist. I walked to the bathroom and did my make-up. Then I walked to the bedroom where there were now three boxes and the nurse waiting for me.
"If you want to unpack before the tour that's fine," I said, "I can help." I felt the need to do something.
"Okay," she said. Her voice was low, mystical. I fell in love with it. She was sweet. "Yes, I'd like to unpack."
"Okay," I said, going to a box. I opened it up to see a box of clothes. "I'll go get some hangers," I told her, leaving the room. She nodded and I left to go get hangers. When I came back I saw the room was coming together. There were pictures and books on the bookshelf and I saw her underwear and bras in an open drawer.
I held up the hangers for her to see. She smiled and went back to unpacking. "I'm Marissa, by the way," I told her as I put a pair of jeans on a white hanger and set them in the closet. She had a style of clothing somewhat like Lindsay's. Everything was Polk-a-dots, strips, argyle or some other uniform print. Here shirts were all bright colors.
"Cam," she responded.
"What's it short for?" I asked.
"Camille," she told me.
I hung up the rest of her clothes and sorted them by color. She smiled when she saw my work. "That's nice," she said, "I'm not very organized so it's nice to see people who are." I laughed a little. "Well that's everything," Cam, said shrugging, "Time for that tour?"
I nodded and went downstairs. "This is the living room," I said, "Those are the remotes." I pointed at four different remotes. "They're difficult to manage so I'll show you how they work later." I pointed at the bathroom door. "That's the half-bath. No one really uses it except when people are over."
I walked into the kitchen. It was painted a light green with cherry wood cabinets and stainless steel finishing's. There was a grey marble couther tops and a small island in the middle with a bowl of fresh fruit. At the outside of the counter sat three barstools. "This is the kitchen. I pulled out the drawers narrating what was in them. "Utensils… stuff no one uses but won't throw away… these two don't open… and scissors." I opened the cabinets. "Bowls… cups…" I cross to the other side of the sink and the next set. "Wine glasses. The wines in the island. Go for it if you want, I only like white but dad likes red so that's most of it."
"Thanks," she said, laughing a little.
"Under here," I said, opening the cabinets underneath the counters and drawers. "Is cereal and stuff like that." I stood up. "So that's the kitchen. In there's the dining room. It's never used." I walked into it. "There's the deck," I said, pointing outside the screen door. I pointed at a door off the kitchen. "That's where the garage is." I pointed to another door off the dining room. "That's where the basement goes from and the washing machine and meat freezer are. I usually run the loads on Sundays but if you need to before then feel free. I'll also have parties down there from time to time but they never get carried away. It's usually just the Glee Club kids."
She looked at me and smiled. "You're in Glee Club?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, smiling a little, "We just won National's in Hawaii."
"That's amazing, I'll have to hear you perform sometime. I was too cool for Glee Club when I was in high school. I always made fun of them but I really wanted to be one of them." I smiled at her. She was really cool for admitting that.
I went back into the living room and up the stairs to the main hall. "That's my room," I said, pointing at the first door on the left. I pointed to the second one. "That's my bathroom but you're welcome to it. I walked into it and showed her around. "The towels and washcloths are up here," I said opening the cabinet above the toilet. I pointed at the cabinet under the sink. "Plunger and toilet paper down there. My make-up is kind of spread out," I said, gesturing to the white counter top, "Sorry about that." She smiled at me. "Shower… Toilet… Medicine cabinet," I said, pressing the mirror and opening the cabinet to show aspirin and some prescriptions. We left the bathroom.
I pointed at the first door on the left. "Your room, of course. The next is my dad's." I led her to it and opened the door. It was dark; the doctor had turned off the lights when he had left last night. I turned them on and gestured around.
She looked at all the things in the room. Her eyes stopped at the violin. "Do you play?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, looking away, "I think dad's likes it." I blushed, knowing I probably sounded naïve. "I read to him too. He likes Hemmingway. I don't much but I figure he's in a coma, the least I could do is read to his tastes." She smiled again.
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, "Well, I think I'll stay in here for a while and get acquainted with this room." I nodded.
"I'm going to the store," I said, gesturing at the door, "What do you want food-wise?" I kind of wanted to get out of there.
"Pineapple, please," she said, "It's my favorite." I nodded. Her company gave me three-hundred dollars a month for her food.
"Alright," I said, after making a mental note to add pineapple to the list that was posted on the refrigerator. "See you in a bit." I left the room and grabbed my keys then climbed into my car.
I pulled into the Safeway by my house and got out. The electric doors opened and I was hit by the over-the-top fluorescent lighting. I grabbed a cart and looked over the list. I saw that Damian had put some items on it, making me snicker.
By the end of the shopping trip I had filled the cart to its capacity. I pulled in line and grabbed a magazine. The boy in front of me had a lot of items in his cart. I read through the topics, mindless flipping the pages. When it was my turn I impulsed and added a Reese's Peanut Butter package to the mix and a Mellow Yellow.
I handed the check-out man five reusable bags and asked him to not bag anything big like milk jugs or cereal boxes. He raised his eyebrows at me. My total ran up to one-hundred, thirty-seven dollars and twelve cents. I figured about forty of it was Cam's for the pineapple and her share of the meals. I had only had to use one plastic bag and felt very good about it. I loaded the bags into my trunk and left.