Chapter 18

Getting Back to Normal

Wilson was worried about House. Over the last three months he had fewer cruel retorts and seemed to live on a diet of Blackberry jam. Having watched him mope around, House seemed to be mooning for Teagan. Wilson wasn't sure how to get him to move on. It reminded him of when Stacy left him. Wilson was hoping that he would snap out of it quicker this time since he and Teagan had only known each other for a relatively short time. Hopefully, he hadn't really fallen in love, but was just infatuated or 'in lust.' Wilson thought the best way to cheer him up would be to take him to their favorite strip joint, "Foxies."

House plowed through several doubles of Scotch and paid for a lap dance from the young hot thing dancing provocatively in front of him. The buxom blonde rubbed her ass and then her breasts up and down his chest. He reached out and grabbed her, an absolute no-no which brought the bouncer over. After being warned to stop, House held his hands up in the air to show he was no longer grabbing the dancer. Wilson was shaking his head, silently warning House not to do it again.

"What color are your panties when you go home? Do you have blue satin panties with nude lace on the hips?" House asked, his eyes bloodshot.

"No. I wear thongs." The dancer said, slightly annoyed.

House had a flash of sobriety and realized what he was doing. Jumping up and back, away from the dancer, he smiled, but the smile flickered out and he had the look of a sad puppy. He reached out for his cane and left, hobbling as fast as he could out the door. Wilson knew then that it had been the real deal. House had fallen in love and he was in free fall.

Arriving home, he went to bed., but lay there wishing she was with him. He knew he wasn't supposed to, but he needed to hear her voice.

"Teagan, Teagan, Teagan... Come on Teagan, Teagan...Teagan! Please Teagan , I can't stand this. Talk to me. Teagan please don't do this. Talk to me, please. Talk to me. Teagan, do you miss me? I miss you...Teagan. Teagan. Teagannnn..." But there was no response. No soft voice in his head assuring him that she was there. He was fucked.

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I could hear him, I could hear him calling me and sounding lost, desperate. He screamed in my head; he pleaded and I said nothing. I said nothing to reassure him. I put my pillow over my head to try and drown him out, but I knew the voice was inside me. He told me he missed me and I said nothing. He asked me if I missed him. I said nothing. I have no choice, if I open the gate he'll know. He'll know and he'll want to work something about it. And there is nothing to work out. There is no solution to this.

Teagan got up in the morning, tired from crying most of the night. It had been over three months and she had thought he had forgotten her. There had been some comfort in thinking he had gone on with his life and didn't have second thoughts. It let her think she meant nothing to him and it gave her a reason to try and forget him. But now she knew he was as lonely and miserable as she was.

"Hi Fred."

"Hey Teagan, what's up?" Fred had driven over to her cabin to talk to her.

"Not much. What are you doing?"

"The Rangers called from the lodge. They need workers in the Valley and they want to know if we want some hours?"

She perked up. The trip to Princeton had drained her of her savings and she could use the money, especially now, "Yeah, that would be great. Do you know for how long?"

"Six on, three off."

"That's great but who's going to look after Molly if we're both gone?"

"We'll take her up to the Lodge, they'll watch her."

"When are you going?"

"I thought I'd go check in tonight. They have an early morning shift. I could pick you up at 4:00 p.m."

"Ok, I'll be ready."

They dropped off Molly at the lodge and drove to the Yosemite Park's housing office. All workers received lodging at a discount or, in a case like Teagan, who was a favorite of the rangers, for free. They were assigned bunks in two different bunkhouses. Fred was assigned work in Curry Village. Teagan was assigned, as usual, to the Ahwahnee. They were given their bed linens and blankets and each assigned a locker too. Teagan was happy to see that Sylvia was back at the Park. She and Teagan always had a good time working together.

"Hey girlfriend." Teagan said to Sylvia as she dropped her linens and went over to stoke the black pot belly stove that was used to heat the bunkhouse.

"Thank God! I am so glad you are here; it's going to be so much more fun with you."

Sitting on their bunks in the bunk room, they caught up on each other's news. Sylvia was getting her second divorce from her very abusive husband. Teagan told her about Greg.

"That sucks. Are you sure he couldn't open an office in Groveland or something?"

"That's kind of like asking Mick Jagger to take a job as a wedding disk jockey. Greg's famous for what he does...I couldn't ask him and he wouldn't give it up for me."

"It's a shame, you sound like you're in love."

"I wouldn't go that far."

The next morning Sylvia and Teagan got up at 5:30 am and stood in line to get their free breakfast. Teagan ate toast and tea. She couldn't stomach the large pan of sausages and eggs."

Syliva looked at her, "Are you on a diet?"

"No, it just doesn't look appetizing. I'll pork out at lunch."

They walked over to the Ahwahnee and reported to housekeeping. Both were provided a uniform and went to the locker room where they got dressed. Sylvia took her linen cart and hit the third floor, south wing. Teagan took the third floor north wing.

Teagan started by spraying down the shower curtain, the tubs and the toilet bowl with cleaner. She stripped the bed, dusted the furniture, emptied the trash, cleaned the windows and mirrors, rinsed out the coffee maker, stocked the mini bar and vacuumed. Then she went back finished scrubbing the bathrooms,kneeling on her knees to clean the bathroom floors. She restocked the towels and toiletries. She had approximately fifteen minutes per room to clean it. They worked 7.5 hours a day with a half hour lunch break. Food at the Ahwahnee was too expensive so most of the maids brought their lunches or went to the local Yosemite Valley store for lunch. They were each expected to clean 28 rooms during their shift.

Teagan wasn't surprised when she found several used rubbers in one of the beds. It was pretty common to find things in the rooms that people would never leave or do at home. She wasn't upset to find them, especially since the guest had left a five dollar tip on the dresser. Teagan always appreciated the tips, the work was hard and the pay was minimum wage, but the tips helped big time. She wasn't complaining, the work was honest and there were no dead bodies and grieving parents. Putting on gloves, Teagan picked the rubbers up with her dust pan and threw them away. Avoiding contact with the rubbers was not just for health reasons, but otherwise she would have connected with the person who had worn them. Experience had taught her that she needed gloves on to do this work. Sometimes the emotions in the room would be so heavy they would seep through the physical protection she wore. She enjoyed the times when she would get rooms that had been used by honeymoon couples. The honeymoon rooms were usually filled with optimism and joy. Occasionally, she would feel the pain of someone who had realized that they had made a mistake by marrying and it would make her sad. She always wondered what happened to them.

Teagan liked cleaning the rooms at the Ahwahnee because a lot of the guests would leave tips, but she actually preferred the downstairs work more. There was less contact with chemicals and more interaction with the guests and other workers. If you got assigned downstairs, your duties were to clean the Great Hall, corridors, reception, all the areas that the public traversed during the day including the bathrooms.

Teagan was cleaning room 468 when Peter came in to see her. "Teagan, we have a seasonal position open for night reception starting next Monday through January 3rd. You get paid $9.47 an hour plus 0.48 per hour night pay. It's only four days a week. But you can pick up an extra two days waiting tables in the Grand Dining hall if you want or by filling in for any absent maids. Do you want it?"

"It sounds great. I need to go home this weekend though and make sure someone can take care of my place and my dog."

"Bring your dog with you, she can stay with us. You know Max, he gets along with just about everyone's dog. He won't mind the company. You can take her to your room at night."

"Oh, that would be great. Thank you, Peter." Teagan continued cleaning until she got to room 472. She looked at the number on the door and choked. Sylvia walked up to when she saw Teagan frozen, unable to move. "Hey, got any extra window cleaner?" She noticed that Teagan had frozen, "Teagan, what's wrong?"

Teagan looked at her with a sad face, "This is the room where I stayed with Greg, my summer fling."

"You stayed at the Ahwahnee?"

"We also went to the wine tasting dinner."

Sylvia whistled. "You let that rich SOB get away?"

Teagan laughed, "Yep, he lives on Mars and I live in Paradise. I was just thinking about it..." Actually Teagan was wondering if she was going to pick up any residue of their night in the room and could she handle it if she did?

When she opened the door, it was like a windstorm. She felt his breath, smelled his cologne, could feel his hands. She closed the door and ran after Sylvia. Her eyes were wide and breath shallow, "Can you clean 472? I'll clean your next one and you can keep the tips from both rooms. Please Sylvia, please?"

"Sure...but this guy really got to you, didn't he?"

"In more ways than you can know."

Teagan grabbed a ride with the Rangers headed to Hetch Hetchy that Friday. They dropped her off at the lodge in Aspen Valley and she walked the rest of the way to her cabin. The cabin was in great shape, her mail was on the table. Her neighbors had made sure everything was kept up. She arranged for the two teenage daughters of the lodge owners to stay at her cabin while she was gone. They were pretty smart girls and had stayed in her house before. They knew how to stoke the stove and light the propane heater and start a fire to keep warm. They liked being away from their parents, even if it was only a mile away.

On Sunday afternoon, she threw her luggage and "stuff" in the truck and opened the door so that Molly could ride shotgun. They took off for the Valley. As a temporary receptionist, she moved into house in the Park with two other workers, both males, Bill and Art. They told her that Molly could stay in the house; she didn't have to go live with Max. So Molly did stay in the house, but occasionally Teagan would take her to stay with Max for some company. Max was a sweet natured Golden Retriever who tended to be afraid of his own shadow.

Teagan had brought her outdated dresses and a few skirts. She would be expected to wear appropriate clothing at the front desk. After all, she would be welcoming guests like Steven Spielburg, Matt Damon, Governor Schwarzenegger. She was working the 4:00 p.m. to midnight shift four nights a week. On her off days she filled in for the dining staff waiting tables. The waitressing work helped a lot because the tips were good. Teagan was an excellent waitress, "anticipating" everything the guest needed. Her tips were always good, but she was exhausted from working two jobs. She decided to go see the doctor at the Valley clinic and see if he could give her something like a Vitamin B shot. The visits were free to the employees, they paid $9.88 a month out of their checks for the privilege of using it. The doctor was there to treat the staff and tourists who had minor accidents, allergic reactions, bacterial infections and sometimes the clinic was the first aid provider for those who were life-lifted out to Merced for emergency treatment.

"I typically don't get people in here with happy news. You are happy aren't you?" Dr. Medina asked.

"Yes, but scared."

"Well, you should be feeling the baby move soon. It will feel like a flutter at first. Have you received any prenatal counseling?"

"No." Teagan felt guilty for not seeking care when she first knew she was pregnant, but the truth was that the only free clinic for pre-natal care was all the way in Stockton, a two hour drive and she had been busy trying to make money to get her through the winter. "I did buy some Folic Acid and started taking it each day."

"That's great. You're lucky, I don't see any problems but if you're cleaning at the Ahwahnee, stay away from the chemical fumes if you can."

"I'm at the desk right now."

"Good. Sit as much as you can, get off your feet, they're starting to swell. Let's see, you appear to be due on April 8th."

Although she knew she wouldn't be able to honor that request, she shook her head yes. Teagan had known Dr. Medina for years. She had waited on him at the various restaurants and had eaten with him and the other workers at the snack bar. He frequently went for drinks with them after work. He was a great guy.

"What about the father? Can't he help with the prenatal care, the hospital delivery?"

"Out of the picture."

Wincing, the doctor nodded sadly, "Sorry. It's his loss Teagan. You'll make a good Mother. Can I ask, weren't you using birth control?"

"Yeah, the diaphragm, but sometimes I didn't plan ahead for what was going to happen. I think I got pregnant at the Ahwahnee. I didn't know we were staying overnight and I forgot the diaphragm at home. But it's ok, it will all work out."

"I want you to come see me every two weeks. Set up the appointments with Marta. "

"Thanks Dr. Medina." Whenever Dr. Medina touched her she saw images of his daughters and wife. He loved them so much that his love for his family touched everything he did. Teagan always felt warm and safe after seeing Dr. Medina.