Little Moments

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

           “Thank you,” I said handing the Taxi driver the money.

           I walked up to the small apartment building. San Diego was a lot cooler than Reno. The cold air felt amazing as I walked in the building.

           “Can I help you?” A woman with short red hair asked from the front desk with a huge grin on her face.

           “I’m here to see Alicia Kappen,” I said.

           “Oh, you must be Maribel. Your grandmother has told me so much about you. She’s on the second floor room C5.”

           Ummm… Okay.

           I walked up to the 2nd floor and found her room and knocked.

           I looked around. It looked like a small hotel.

           “Come in!” someone shouted from inside.

           I wheeled my bags in and shut the door behind me. Taking in the apartment, I immediately felt comfortable. The light green walls and brown furniture, small bright kitchen and wood table, 3 doors that must have led to other rooms. The room was decorated so… perfect.

           There was talking coming from the other room, “No, no, no. I got it. Okay,okay, fine. That sounds wonderful. Oh of course! I don’t mind at all.” A thin grey-haired woman about 5’1 walked in, phone to her ear. She was wearing light blue floral dress and white converse. That made me laugh inside. She was quirky. I liked that. She began to talk about something else until we made eye contact.

           “Oh my god, Karen I got to call you back. Uh-huh! Buh-bye,” she set the phone down and then approached me cautiously. Talk about awkward. The awkwardness didn’t last long though. She ran up and pulled me into a warm hug. I don’t know why, but I felt safe. I felt a feeling I have never felt in my life and hugged back.

           “You’re gorgeous!” she smiled “Maribel Julita Kappen! Oh my god! Your eyes!” she grabbed my face in her cold hands and examined it. I couldn’t help but smile every time she spoke. She had an attitude to her and a ‘say like it is’ personality.

           “Well, come on in. I want to show you around,” she walked me in the living room, “I guess you could tell what this room is,” she opened a cupboard on the entertainment center, “Here’s where I keep the movies and such. Feel free to watch any movies whenever. Over here is the kitchen. I don’t even know why I told you that because you could kind of tell that.” She laughed to herself. I laughed too. “Don’t be afraid to eat or drink whatever and whenever you want.” I felt so happy with her around. No one has ever taken so much time to talk to me before.

           She took to me to the bathroom and told me to “feel free to use what I need when I need it”. Just like every time! She was so kind to me.

           She took me outside another door and said it was her bedroom and I could see it later. She last took me to another door. “I’ve always had this room and didn’t do anything to it because I didn’t know what to use it for.” She flung open the door and walked in.

           The room was small and white. There was a white desk in the corner and some dust collected around in corners of the room. There was a white wired bed board and mattress and lamp and bookshelf.

           “It’s boring. I know. We can design it…” she paused and she didn’t sound as excited, “Or you can design it…”

           “Grandma, it’s perfect for me, but I could use some help designing it.” I smiled and she beamed.

           “Well, it’s only 12:00. We can get some lunch and then I’ll help you unpack if you need it. I know you won’t be living here that long, but we can design your room. I want you to feel at home.”

           “Thank you.”

           “What do you want to eat for lunch?”

           I shrugged.

           “We can eat here or go out.”

           “Maybe we should eat here. I have a lot to unpack and we could start planning out my room?”

           “Sounds good! I don’t have much here. I need to get to the grocery store. We can do that tomorrow. I get senior discounts on Fridays, so we can order something. Pizza? Chinese?”

           “I’m allergic to peanuts.”

           “Oh my, I forgot that. Your dad told me that. Speaking of your dad, how is he?”

           I knew this conversation would come up sometime. I didn’t want to talk about it, but I knew I would have to sooner or later.

           “Is everything okay at home?” She asked when I didn’t respond.

           “Kind of… It’s a long story.”

           “Okay, let’s eat. I am starving!” I was so grateful she changed the subject. It was hard to say my dad didn’t like me, especially when it’s her son that is ignoring me. I had a feeling I was really going to like it here.

           “Anyways, back to lunch. A bit of Chinese food has peanuts in it at times, so is pizza good?” she took her red cell phone out of her purse.

           “That’s fine, it may sound strange, but I can only eat pizza with pineapple on it,” I giggled.

           I swear she almost dropped her phone when I said that. “I can’t eat it unless there’s pineapple on it either.” I grinned and she dialed the number.

           When we finished eating the pizza we went to my room and started unpacking. My grandma sat on the bed and I hung and folded clothes and put them away.

           “I know you just got here and need to get comfortable, but I have a book club coming over tomorrow at one,” she said.

           “I don’t mind,” I said lining my shoes up on the floor in the closet.

           “Okay good. Well, I’m going to let you settle in. I have some white bedding that we could use for your room. I’ll get that out when you’re ready to go to bed.” She smiled and shut the door behind her. This wasn’t going as bad as I thought it would!