Palas

3. "Babe, you already saw it in the changing room. Remember?"

I barely slept my first night here, feeling restless. I expected to be tired after what's probably the weirdest day of my life. Instead of sleeping, I spent the whole night thinking about all the new impressions I made. Rosie popped up in my head multiple times. She came in around four in the morning stumbling against my bed. She giggled an apology before falling in her own bed. Within minutes I heard a soft snoring coming from her side. I wondered all night if she did anything with Harry.

I sneak out of the bed to grab a quick shower and hopefully wash away all the weird thoughts that kept me awake for most of the night. I have to start work early this morning where I’ll learn the ropes of being a lifeguard. I have no idea what to expect, and I’m sure I’ll be fine, but it still scares me not knowing what I have to do.

My father used to be a swim teacher and I learned from a young age how to swim. Swimming always stayed a hobby and even when money was tight, my father made sure to pay my contribution. But this is different than swimming in a pool.

The shower is warm and calms some of my nerves. I’m glad that the shower here works well. I don’t feel like walking back, all wet, from the bathroom down the hall. Back home we have a small apartment down town and the bathroom is too small for an actual bath. So this is definitely a pro and I add that to the list of things I need to tell my father. He needs lists to get through his day, while I can keep it all in my head. If I can’t remember something or don’t have a plan, than there’s something wrong with me.

Around nine in the morning I get an answer to one of the questions that wandered around my head last night. When I start to unpack some of my things, I catch Rosie staring to the ceiling.

“Everything okay?” I ask concerned.

“Yeah, just a little hangover.” Her voice is flat and it costs her some power to get out of bed without throwing up.

She flees to the bathroom to take a shower as well and I continue to unpack my stuff. Rosie kept some drawers empty for me and I am happy that I don’t have to ask for some space. She has been here since April, the beginning of the season, and will stay until late October.

I store away my clothes and place my father’s letter in my night stand. It are the little things that he does that make me love him so much. He might be a drunk, well he is, but he’s a sweet one. The one that doesn’t hurt a fly – most of the time. And it isn’t as if he’s drunk all day, every day. Alcohol has just always been a problem for him, for as long as I can remember. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love him.

He has always been there for me, with his little lists to try to keep some order in our life. He was there when I got my first swimming diploma. He was there when I sang in front of the whole school – something that terrifies me to this day. He was there when I got my first boyfriend and had my first break up. He was there when I graduated, happy tears falling down from his eyes into his beard. He was always there and I can’t say that about my mother. So even if I have to work in a foreign country, I will happily do that for him, because he’s my dad.

I don’t think that I’ll do his list though. It is totally his humour and I laugh when I imagine him bald, but I keep it in my night stand just for those moments where I miss him. If I read it I’ll remember the way he can always make me laugh.

Rosie enters the room, fully dressed in her lifeguard clothes that are all yellow with red lettering. Still she manages to look really beautiful and it makes me wonder again if she and our neighbour did something last night. We both have to leave for work at the same time so we leave our room together while we quickly eat sandwiches I made for the both of us.

When we walk to the end of the hallway I finally feel brave enough to ask her one of the questions that kept me awake all night.

“How did it go with Harry?” I hope I don’t sound as scared as I feel to ask her this. But judging from yesterday she won’t mind telling me.