PART 5
Saturday morning arrived and they all chipped in to pack the car. Of course, it seemed as if little perfect Kathy had packed her pink suitcase a week in advance. Josh had thrown a few raggedy tee shirts, underwear and socks in his overnight bag at the last minute and figured that would be fine. He wasn’t trying to impress any “posers” on this loser trip. He actually thought he had been somewhat responsible by remembering to throw in his toothbrush.
Josh had cleverly hidden half a pack of cigarettes in his undies. He figured he would at least be able to sneak onto the beach to smoke one or two. Although he really didn’t like them (yet), he thought cigarettes would make him look cool in front of his friends and was trying to learn this subversive habit to impress them. His mother seemed to have already forgotten his trouble last week, and he decided he was in the clear. Since there seemed to be no further repercussions from his latest detention, he assumed it was over and his uneasiness vanished. He’d complain a bit but serve out his rather light punishment. Then he’d be right back to his old ways. He was already thinking of new ways to get around his mother. “Lucky for me, it looks like she’s a pushover,” he thought to himself.
It was an unseasonably warm day (thanks global warming!), and despite the A/C they were all pretty hot and tired when they arrived at Mrs. Meriweather’s house. Kathy and his mother seemed to chat endlessly on the way about all the things they were looking forward to. Everytime they tried to draw Josh into the conversation, he would mumble out a one or two word answer, and he generally acted annoyed with the whole venture. They had stopped on the way for lunch, and so it was already early afternoon. Josh had expected something like a beach house, but this place looked more like a Victorian grandmother’s place: Doilies on all the furniture, elaborate ball and claw furniture, a formal sitting room, and plush carpeting.
After the exhausting trip, Josh’s mother told them it was best to get cleaned up and refreshed before dinner. Josh, relieved to be free of the car, bolted straight to the shower. “Joshua your room is to the right,” he heard his mother call. He figured his mother and sister could unload the car… not his problem. While he was in the shower, he thought he heard the door open, but when he called out no one answered. Must have been his imagination. Josh was annoyed that the soap and shampoo in the place left a sweet, heavy strawberry scent.
He turned off the shower, wrapped the flimsy towel around his waist and strutted into the adjoining bedroom. God, how had he not noticed what a horror this room was? It had obviously been furnished for a girl. He decided he would have to trade rooms with Kathy. She would love this one anyway.
An elaborate white wooden dresser stood next to the wall, and an old painting of a graceful ballerina hung near it. The floor was dark hardwood with a plush pink and white rug. Wispy pink curtains hung at the large windows, and there was a little vanity table with a big mirror next to the wall. The table was accompanied by a dainty swivel stool covered in pink fabric, and a fancy music box sat on top of the dresser. There was a plush sitting chair by the window also covered in pink. Several antique dolls wearing elaborate dresses sat on a decorative bench between the two big windows. Another antique, full-length oval mirror stood by the double closet doors. The white four-post canopy bed was bedecked with a frilly pink bedspread and several fluffy pink pillows. A sheer, gauze-like curtain hung down from above the bed with tiny pink ribbons and bows woven into its delicate fabric. Finally, laid out on the ultra-feminine bedspread, he realized there were two very different sets of clothing neatly arrayed before him.
None of these clothes were his. Obviously, his crazy mother had gotten things mixed up. As the confused boy took in his surroundings, he realized the bag he had packed was nowhere to be found. It then dawned on him that even the clothes he had worn on the trip -- the ones he had carelessly tossed on the floor a few minutes before -- were also gone. Even his underwear.
Still feeling a little coc-ky, he called out rather rudely “Mom, where are my clothes? These are Kathy’s… or at least some of them are anyway!”
After a moment, the heavy wooden door opened and Gwendolyn Hartley strode calmly into the ornate bedroom. She slowly turned and locked the door behind her with an old timey key attached to a delicate chain. With an ominous click, she removed the key, hung the chain around her neck and tucked the key into her blouse. Then, she purposefully marched across the room and sat in the formal sitting chair. Slowly crossing her legs, she drilled her eyes purposefully into her son’s. Her blue eyes seemed to fully appraise him in a new light. Standing before his mother in only his bath towel, Josh’s bravado melted like ice cream on a summer day. He had never seen her like this.
After an uncomfortably long silence, she spoke in a calm but firm tone.
“Joshua, we will now discuss your future.”
Topic: New Arrangements for Josh (Read 119011 times)
