Aubrey (Axis Rising)

003:

*****003:

Rafe had stuff down at the main studio today, a lot of it. I'm not sure what, but the main studio he used was in LA. I'd heard snatches of his and Ben's convo, it had words and names like talk to Liver, a nickname for Oliver Elliot, Rafe's personal manager, who did a number of amazing things for him always, like a magician. He just appeared and disappeared at will in our lives. I'm sure it wasn't a mystery to Rafe and Ben, but it was to me.

"We were children...."

"Be a dead man with no friends...."

"Don't take yourself so seriously....."

"Capitalism is not my enemy....."

"Shure microphones guy classic...."

"I'm too private, guarded....."

As I rinsed Rein off in the yoga room shower after our family workout, these words and others wafted in to me. They washed through me like so much feathers and dross. I wasn't really processing, but it occurred to me that some of the statements did sound interesting like I could follow up.

Bending over this way hurt my back.

Everything hurt my back.

I straightened, and Rein instantly got the soap in his eyes. I hurried to rinse him and get him a washcloth to hold over his face. His crying brought Rafe.

"What's up, my little man? Momma got soap in your cute little chocolate bear eyes?" Rafe stepped into the spray fully dressed, having not showered yet, too busy talking shop talk with Ben who had participated in yoga uncharacteristically this morning. Normally, he did this at a private studio downtown and then worked out in a private gym with his private trainer.

Rafe standing in the walk-in spray, in front of it so that it suddenly changed direction caused it to spray me liberally. Across the shower-- we have these multiple person showers here-- not sure how long that'll last, but in our defense, we are newly-weds righteously endeavoring to make a forever family out of three newly adopted troubled kids. Across the shower, Virgil was naked, standing with his back to the lower nozzles and using the hand-held to massage his upper thighs. It looked suspiciously like he was simply playing with the shower head.

Felicity was actually, at four, across the bathroom hallway, in the other side of the walk in shower down here, with lower spigots on as well, leaning over, spraying the shower head up her peepee. I spied her and stepped into the water over there, now fully wet. I took the shower head and she screeched.

"Baby girl, if you spray water up there like that you can hurt yourself." I turned it off and let the standard faucets finish rinsing her.

"You guys are the weirdest showering family I know." Ben articulated from outside the bathroom somewhere.

"Join us, Ben, it'll make things go faster this morning." Rafe invited. 

I knew it wouldn't have been the first time Ben and Rafe had showered in each other's presence, they'd known each other throughout Junior High and High School and they'd played on the same basketball teams. And my touring showers were legend. Just the thought of it all made me shudder. I sincerely hoped Ben would not actually come in here.

My hopes were dashed. Buck naked our friend came strolling in. I snatched the glass door (on what I now thought of as the girl's side) closed and sighed in annoyance. Leftover idiosyncrasies of Axis before Aubrey occasionally haunted us and maybe always would. Showering fiascos were one of those things.