Red River Blue
Chapter 79
Glenn brushed as much dirt off his pants as he could before he followed Maggie up the steps and into the house. She and Wren walked into the kitchen, looking for something to drink and a snack. Glenn could hear her talking to River and Carol as he headed down the basement steps. Whether or not Maggie was going to tattle on the girl for taking off with Carl earlier was anyone's guess.
Sleeping in the basement wasn't ideal. Glenn and Maggie picked the space because they thought it would offer them a little more privacy. The area was wired with electricity and framed in, sectioned off into rooms. There was an egress window. But the walls were unfinished. Since the basement was also where the laundry area was, Glenn hung up some sheets around the border of the room they chose as their bedroom and called it good. After living on the road, having a basement bedroom with sheets for walls really didn't seem so bad.
As soon as Glenn's feet hit the stairs, he could hear voices drifting up from the basement. Several voices. Which was strange. And it sounded like Merle and Abraham. Which was even weirder. Because Merle sure didn't do his own laundry. So he had no reason to be down there. And Abraham didn't even live here. Glenn walked the rest of the way down the steps. At the bottom, he saw a pile of garbage bags. Poking around inside, he could tell the bags were filled with his and Maggie's things. Glenn could feel the irritation rising inside him. His mattress and box spring were leaning upright against the wall, another bag on the floor near them that was full of sheets and blankets. He couldn't see what was going on over in the area he considered to be his living space. A giant wall of plastic sheeting was hanging up across the middle of the basement.
Glenn found an opening in the plastic and pushed through, prepared to give everyone on the other side of it the business for messing with his shit and trying to kick him out of his own room. But he stopped short as soon as he could see what was happening. Glenn's face lit up into a giant smile. Then he shook his head. He couldn't believe this.
"You guys didn't have to do this," he said, entering the doorway that now actually had a door hanging from it instead of only a sheet. The entire room was walled in with drywall. Glenn didn't hear him from the steps, but Daryl was also present. And all three men were slathering drywall mud onto the walls, spreading it out evenly so there would be less sanding to do. When Glenn poked further inside, he saw that his room had been connected to the adjoining room, which already looked finished.
"Hey!," Daryl said, pulling the hanky down that he had tied around his nose and mouth. "Whatya think?" He was covered head to toe in a layer of thin white powder from sanding the drywall in the other room. "We were gonna do two separate rooms. But River and Carol said you'd rather have them connected. So you could hear the baby if it cries." Daryl looked at Glenn, waiting for his response to the debate of the day.
"Yeah. Uh. This is great. The connecting rooms were a good idea," Glenn said. Really he had no idea what Maggie would prefer. Or what he would rather have. But clearly the decision was already made. And really he just appreciated the hard work and the extremely thoughtful gesture.
"This's gotta dry overnight. Tomorrow we can paint and put the carpet down," Daryl explained. "Ya kin stay in the spare bedroom tonight."
"There's a spare bedroom?," Glenn asked. Part of the reason he and Maggie were in the basement was because he thought all the upstairs bedrooms were taken.
"He means Carol's room," Merle announced. He gestured towards his brother. "He put all Carol's shit in his room. When she started acting like she was 'bout to move it back Daryilna here threw a big hissy fit!"
"FUCK you, Merle," Daryl cursed. "That's a fuckin' lie!" From the tone in Daryl's voice and Merle's laughter, Glenn guessed that maybe it wasn't such a lie. Glenn took the putty knife that Merle was holding out for him and tried to hide his own laughter. Daryl followed Carol around like a lovesick dog even back at the prison. Glenn could only imagine what he was acting like over her now that they were actually sleeping together.
"You playin' cards with us later?," Abraham asked. Glenn nodded. He knew River found a set of poker chips and a couple decks of cards in an empty house down the street. So everyone was talking about having some sort of card tournament or game night. Glenn wasn't very good at cards. But he thought it sounded fun anyway. Anything that wasn't fighting the dead or scraping for food sounded like a good time to him.