Frei’s little add in: Pfah I haven’t posted in forever. I’ve become consumed in obsessions about my collegiate future. Anyway, here’s the next installment. The story’s pretty bland thus far but it improves. Trust me. Well, try to.
We got out of the car and jogged to the door through the rain. Mom rang the bell and immediately Blue, my grandparents’ shih tzu began barking excitedly. Blue was one of the few non-farm dogs ever to arrive at the shelter he was adopted from. Renée came to open the door, and Blue rushed out to greet me. He bounced up and down around my feet and the white and grey shih tzu finally calmed himself enough to sit up on his hind legs and look at me expectantly. I picked up the gleeful little dog as Renée greeted us.
“Mary! Rose! Oh it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Rose you’ve grown so much! I swear you were a foot shorter the last time I saw you.”
Who would’ve thought. I’d grown four inches since I started high school and last saw Renée, but still measured in at a whopping 5’ 3’’. I put on a smile, “Yeah it’s been a while hasn’t it.”
“It looks like Mr. Blue remembers you though.”
The dog’s name is Blue, but Renée just has to call him Mr. Blue. It’s very strange in my opinion, and I don’t think she should go around renaming other people’s dogs. “He sure does.” We walked into the living room where Grandma Ana and Grandpa Jim were watching TV.
Mom started, “Oh Mom, Dad! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you both! I’ve missed you so much!”
What a load of crap. My mother couldn’t wait to get back to Silverburg, if getting her flight at 7:35 AM was any indicator; she’d have to leave at 4:30 in the morning. She couldn’t go a day without complaining about having to pay for Renée to take care of her parents. Not like we couldn’t afford it. But sending me away for a while and not having to pay was the perfect solution in her eyes. My mother hugged each of her parents in turn, who had just gotten up from the couch in the living room at the entrance of the house.
“Rose,” Grandma Ana said, “I’m so excited you’re going to be here the whole summer. We hardly get to see you anymore, right Grandpa?”
“Oh yes, Rose,” he said, “It’ll be so nice to spend time with you.”
I wasn’t heartless, I was going to like seeing my grandparents, but the whole summer was a bit excessive. “I’ve missed you both so much.” That was truth. The last time I had seen them was at Christmas two years ago, when Dad thought Mom would like seeing her parents for Christmas and drove them to Silverburg. Mom was surprised alright, but not how Dad intended.
After all of the greetings were finished, we all went to the table for dinner. Renée had made homemade lasagna, which was really quite good. Overall the meal was quite enjoyable, save my mother’s clenching of the table every time she felt her phone vibrate. She wouldn’t ever dare to turn the almighty phone off. She rocketed away from the table as I helped Renée clean up the dishes. Then Renée had to help me bring in my two suitcases as my mother was on the phone for a solid hour. Renée showed me my room, which I vaguely remembered staying in long ago. Over the past few weeks we had started mailing some more clothes and other items here that wouldn’t fit on the plane. The first of the packages was waiting in the room, which was also my most anticipated. I quickly opened it to find my small practice amp, which only had a six inch speaker, along with my distortion pedal, a capo, a guitar stand, and a mass of cables. Of course, I had no strings. Maybe I could go all summer without breaking one, but I tended to break them a lot.
My first priority or course was Gloria, and I removed her from her imprisonment in the case and gently placed her on the stand. Next I started unpacking some of my clothes and began putting them in the drawers of the dresser. As for shoes, I only had the Sperry’s on my feet. I had put several pairs of other shoes in another package which would arrive shortly. In addition, I had included pillows, posters, and any other atmospheric enhancements I could think of in package number three. A final fourth package contained more clothes.
I of course had my other priorities. I sacrificed several shirts in order to nestle my iPod speakers in the suitcase. With my music, I could escape anything. I took my laptop from its case and laid it on the dresser; I’d have to survive without a desk. My next project would have to be moving some of the furniture to make it seem more like home, if anything could be done. I would’ve started right then if Renée hadn’t called me to give me a general guide of all that needed to be done around the house.
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