Selcouth City

Spoiled Rotten

Auntie Rita was exactly what I had imagined her from the greeting cards, She had the same thin figure, only a few strands of platinum made themselves known in her pile of dark brown hair --that and an increase of laugh lines on her face. She sort of dressed like a mystical swamp witch, and she had quite a model height, kind of like Mom. Her overall color of wardrobe was dark and greenish. She wore a black long sleeve shirt, with a dark green poncho that looked like it was hand ripped. As for bottoms, she wore a brownish long skirt and fuzzy green socks. She also had a small but very eye catching pendant necklace. A black and white yin yang surrounded by metal attached beads hung by rope on her neck. I had some sense that she was a Libra. Shy, but charismatic approach of a personality. She had a beautiful smile that resembled Mom's but even more realistic. As I embraced her, she smelled of peppermints and incense.

"Lanny! Look at how you've grown from the last time I saw you! How old are you now, 18?" She had the voice pattern of someone who probably had sung in her earlier years. Whenever she spoke, she spoke with strong inflection.

"Only a year and a few months younger than that." I smile. "I'll be 17 in October."

"Oh, right! I remember-- Eddie would always remind me whenever we would visit that he was four years older than you. Now, you guys look about the same age, twins maybe!"

"Okay, Auntie." Eddie says, probably feeling embarrassed. I laughed. "I'm gonna show Lanny her room, and then we can all eat."

"Great! I bet you haven't eaten for hours, Beth (my mom) sending you off straight away. I'll get the plates right now." Auntie Rita was so excited, skipping back to the kitchen that had the whole house filled with the aroma of something mouthwateringly tasty.

***

"Welcome to your crib for the summer. Sort of customized by yours truly." Eddie chuckles while leading me up two flights of stairs, and into a small door which I assumed used to be an attic. I couldn't tell, because it very well looked like a bedroom. There was a nice white dresser to the side of one wall with a large body mirror attached, and a few small circular windows. Because of the ceiling, I felt like I was inside of some sort of pyramid; it was a narrow ceiling because of the walls that leaned inwards. There were Christmas lights taped on the walls of the attic along with a few candles here and there on the floor, surrounding a large bed that sat far back, in the center of the room.

"Damn Eddie, you had enough time on your hands to make a seance!" I dropped my trunk at the door and ran to the bed. I spread my arms and legs wide across the bed and chant, "Adey, Doowee, Demballah!" We both laugh. I remember Eddie forcing me to watch scary movies with him whenever he visited. Child's Play was one of the many.

"So you like it?" Eddie says, plopping onto the bed beside me.

"I can deal with it, yeah. Its pretty nice." I agree, slapping his leg.

"Well, good. Try not to make a lot of noise, cause I'm directly underneath you-- and we'll be sharing a bathroom. Its downstairs across from my room." He smirks. I groan as he trots out of the attic laughing. "Food's ready!" he calls.

*

"Wow, I'm totally stuffed, but I want more." It baffled me as to why Auntie Rita and Eddie stopped visiting. Rita had the hands of a top chef, and Mom could have learned a thing or two.

"Well, its getting late. If you eat more, it wont digest properly. Worst, you could lower that sky rocket metabolism of yours!" Aunt Rita grabs all of our plates from the dining room table and heads back into the kitchen. "There'll be a filling breakfast in the morning, don't worry!"

I eye Eddie, who looked unphased, but smiled as he patted his nonexistent belly. Was Eddie spoiled like this all the time? I tapped him and rose my eyebrows. It was some silent language we had between each other.

Is she for real?

Eddie smiles, and his face says it all: Totally legit. He gives a thumbs up and nods. Oh, what have I been longing for all my life? Bless. It was nice that I could experience not having cold, lumpy juiced drinks for breakfast for three months.

"Auntie Rita, you don't have to do anything, we can put the food up, and do the dishes." I say. Eddie turns to me like I had said something wrong.

"Really? Thank you, darling-- Oh, I can tell Eddie's gonna learn a lot from you already. Goodnight!" she waves at the both of us, and walks down a hallway to the left of the kitchen.

"No, no, no...What'd you do that for?" Eddie groans.

"Auntie Rita sure does spoil you rotten!" I shove him. "Come help with the food. She's cooking you these five star meals and the least you can do is take a little extra work off her hands, like cleaning your own dish." I say, passing his dish back to him.

"Done." He says, sprinkling water on the plate and preparing to hang the rack.

"Wrong." I say. "You forgot soap, Mr. clean."

He sighs, and this time tries again by using a soapy sponge and more water. 

"Those green beans were the bomb," Eddie comments, while stalking up the stairs, followed by a large burp. I roll my eyes. "Goodnight." he finally says, before a door shuts behind him.

"Night." I say--not really to him, but to myself-- as I stalk up the Christmas lit hallway stairs to the attic. Almost instantly I fell asleep, just after shucking off my pants.