Room For More

Chapter Four

New Post Alert. Chapter Four here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy, vote and comment.

About Two Years Ago

I was overjoyed to see that the tree behind the window of my former room was still very much alive and standing. I remembered how many times this same tree had proved it’s loyalty to me by transporting me up to my room on those nights I broke my curfew and I had broken my curfew many times over the years.

I managed to climb up the tree, not as fluid as I’d once been but I made it into my old room without breaking a limb.

The old room looked exactly as I’d left it but I was surprised it wasn’t covered up in dust and cobwebs.  The room was sparkling clean as tough it had been prepared in advance for a guest. The small wooden shelf that housed the collection of books I’d come to own and love these past years still stood with the books firmly and neatly tucked in their space. I was impressed that Teddy has been coming up here in the attic to keep things in place.

And speaking of the old devil,  I could hear his foot steps, moving about below. What was he up to? I went down stairs only to see my brother-in-law in the middle of a nasty clean up.

“What happened here? A college frat party or a funeral?” I asked as I took in the whole living room which looked nothing like what it should be, with disposable cups and plates littered everywhere. Teddy looked up at me, from picking up litters then he went on again with his work.  That wasn’t the reaction I was expecting from him. The man has managed to surprise me a whole lot since I got back. Dealing with him was becoming exasperating but I knew I must not give up on him. It was my turn to be there for him as he was always there for me.

“I could help.” I called out to him before I got a bin bag and joined him in the cleaning of the house. Seeing so many littered red solo cups ricking of alcohol made me cringe at the thought of all those oldies still able to hold up their liquor level without a thought for their livers.

“What’s with the party, the alcohol and the oldies drinking ‘em up?”

“It was what Josie had wanted.” Teddy replied from the other end of the room where he was now arranging the scattered sofas to fit into each other as they once were.i looked up in disbelief at what I heard. It was so unlike my sister to want a party at her funeral.

“That doesn’t sound like the Josie I knew.”

“Well it would take for you to be here more to know wouldn’t it?”

My eyes came to meet his and I saw that he was much disturbed by my presence in the house than he was letting on. But I didn’t offer an apology to him and he didn’t say anything. We just looked on at each other until the tension between us seemed to diffuse.

We continued working in the living room until it was restored to its former glory. Then we continued on with the cleaning of the kitchen. Teddy opted for the traditional mode rather than the use of the dishwasher to wash the utensils. He washed while I rinsed them off and toweled them with the kitchen rag.

“I see you found your way into the house?”

I stopped in the middle of drying off a plate and looked up at him incredulously. “What! So what happened out there was a test? You wanted to see if I’d find a way into the house?”

“Seeing as I still do not want you here, it couldn’t have been a test.”

“Don’t you wanna know how I managed it?”

“I already do. What I find surprising is that you were able to make it up that tree without a scratch on, even with the extra weight you’ve put on."