Better weather

Ahh. Another day of cooler weather. It's great, i had felt like my brain was frying from the heat.

My brother should show up sometime tonight. It's his birthday. He will probably enjoy the cooler weather as well. Down where he is it has been ion the 100's all week. Yuck!

Anyway, I am thinking of taking a day or two to work on something else before going through another edit of Torn. My mother asked how it would sell at all if I can't stand another read right now. I reminded her that at this point to me it would be like reading the same book three times in a row, twice within the same week. She understood a little at that point. She also had me print off a copy for her to read. Now my laser printer is claiming to be nearly out of toner.

Which leads to my next big desision. My laser printer is fairly old and toner is hard to find. At last check I can get toner for about $60, but I can get a new printer for not much more.

So what does everybody think? Replace the old printer, which does have other issues than just low toner, or buy a new printer?

While you think on that here is the next chapter.

Torn
44

The first thing that Maureen did upon reentering the house was to head to the shower.

She had always wondered why it always seemed that she needed a shower immediately after playing in water. She wondered it again as the hot water washed over her.

She finally decided that this time it was the sunscreen. It always felt so greasy, and she hated having it on if she wasn’t actually in the sun.

She sniffed at her collection of soaps until she found one that she decided suited her mood. She squeezed a small amount onto her sponge.

The lather was soft and full. She could almost feel the stress being washed away with the dirt.

She was so comfortable that she was almost disappointed when it was time for her to get out.

***

Julius was quite as pleased with his shower. The main reason was that he had never experienced the shower before. All his experiences with the act of cleaning oneself was with water brought by the bucket from the lake if it was to be heated, or directly in the lake if not.

Hot water from above was definitely different.

He also didn’t understand the different cleaning implements. Maureen had pointed them out to him, but he finally decided that the basic washcloth would suffice.

She had shown him how to operate the foreign thing, and then had disappeared to the other bathroom for her own shower.

He was almost over the newness of the shower when it came time for the soap.

The soaps that he was used to stank compared to this. Animal fats and weeks of sitting before it could even be used was what he was used to.

This soap had perfumes in it, and he could smell the underlying chemicals. It was nothing like the natural soaps that he knew.

He grimaced, wondering how well it would cleanse him.

As he stepped from the shower he was not as disappointed as he thought he might have been. At least the soap had removed the greasy feel of the sunscreen.

***

Julius ended up beating Maureen out of the shower.

She had insisted on washing what clothes of his could be washed while they were outside playing with the water. He retrieved his freshly cleaned clothes, and put them back on.

He thought that he smelled the chemicals from the soap again, and then realized that it was the cleaner that she had put in with his clothing.

He did notice one advantage; his clothes were softer than they had been in many years.

She still hadn’t emerged, even after he had finished dressing.

He decided that the time was right.

***

Maureen came out of the bedroom still rubbing her head with a towel.

She had put on a pair of shorts and a sleeveless top. It would be the most comfortable in the heat that remained.

She didn’t see Julius as she went through the living room and kitchen. She figured that he must either be getting dressed, or doing his own thing.

He would find her when he was ready.

In the meanwhile she had decided that it was time to make dinner.

It was too hot, even with the air conditioning, to make dinner in the kitchen.

She went out back and started the grill, giving it time to heat up.

She went back to the kitchen and started seasoning her meat and making a foil container so that she could roast some vegetables at the same time.

Ready to decide on her vegetables she looked in the refrigerator. She found broccoli, summer squash, and cherry tomatoes. Perfect.

She finished preparing the food and went back out to check on the grill. It was hot enough.

She made the round trip to recover the food and enjoyed the sizzle as the fresh meat hit the grill.

She finished grilling just before the mosquitoes came out.

Putting the plate on the counter she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and made her way to the living room to eat.

She was surprised to see that Julius was still not to be seen.

Deciding that her food could cool a moment she returned to the kitchen and sliced a bloodroot the way that she had seen Julius do it. She drained it and returned to the living room.

Julius was still not there. She called him.

There was a shuffling noise in the garage. She headed toward it.

She found Julius rummaging through his bag. He was hiding something, but she couldn’t even begin to guess what it was.

“Dinner is ready.”

“Ok, I’ll be right there.”

She stepped a little into the garage. “What is that you’ve got there?”

He quickly shoved the thing out of sight. “Nothing.”

“I saw something, what is it?”

“You’ll see later.” With that he led her by the elbow out of the garage.