The Start of Something New

CHAPTER 2: Close to home!

Ryan began making this house his home. He hadn’t brought much with him, only enough clothes to fill a duffle bag, a few of the caps from his vast and ever-growing hat selection, his keys, and whatever was on his body. He knew that he would eventually need to go into the small town and buy some clothes as well as food and anything else he needed, so he decided to go ahead and get all of that over and done with.

The first order of business was his clothes. There was a very small selection of stores that sold clothing in the town. Wal-Mart, Bealles, and a thrift store, were the only selections. “I guess I’m gonna be making a stop at Wal-Mart,” he told himself. ‘Because, I really don’t want to drive into Austin any time soon.’ he finished silently.

He chose a couple pairs of cargo pants, a few t-shirts, three button-up shirts, a new pair of shoes, and, of course, a new cap. He decided not to buy his food at Wal-Mart. ‘I’ll buy the food later on at H-E-B,’ he thought, ‘I don’t want it to go bad while I’m wandering around town.’

After making his purchases, he began walking through the big sliding doors, when he noticed a bunch of advertisements, different want ads and sale ads that people had posted on a large bulletin board on the wall located right inside the store.

‘Hmmm... I wonder what’s on here.’ He saw people advertising for the sale of their animals, dogs, cats, horses, different homes that were being sold, and even different jobs that people were willing to do. A flyer that said, “Housekeeping” in large green and silver letters caught his eye. ‘Well, I do need someone to come by every once in a while and help out with the inside chores.’ Even though Ryan wasn’t intimidated by mowing the lawn or even doing his few dishes every once in a while, the thought of having to dust or clean his bathtub scared him just a little.

He may have grown up in a good family, but his mother never saw fit to make him scrub the toilet or clean the bathtub. He wasn’t even sure if he really knew how.

“It’d probably be better to just get somebody else to do it,” he thought out loud. He tore off one of the slips of paper that contained the person’s name and phone number. ‘Might as well give her a ring right now. There’s no sense in putting it off, my house isn’t getting any cleaner.’

He dialed the number hoping... well, actually he wasn’t sure what he was hoping for...

“Hola?”

“Yeah, Hi! Is this Heather?”

“Yes it is.” ‘Great!,’ he thought, ‘I’m so glad that nobody else picked up, that would have been just a little awkward.’

“Hi! I saw your flyer on the bulletin board in Wal-Mart and was wondering if your services are available?”

“Services?” Heather started laughing, “I’m sorry... it’s just that you kind of made me sound like a prostitute. Yeah, I can help you out. First I’ll need to know where you live so that I can come out and inspect the house and see how much damage control I’m gonna have to do?”

They talked for a few more seconds exchanging numbers, and then he gave her his address.

“Hey! That’s awesome! You live right down the road from me! I was wondering who that was moving in down there!” Heather exclaimed. “When would you like me to start?” she asked.

“Well, would tomorrow be okay with you? Since I just moved in today the house needs a little... help.”

“Yeah sure. Sound good! I’ll be there around, say... 9 am?”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
`
And they both hung up.

____________________

Heather was delighted to have finally gotten a customer. ‘Finally!’ she thought, ‘Now I’ll hopefully be able to pay for all of my classes next semester, plus have some left over.’

Heather was a student at the community college located in Austin. She had gone to the high school there in Bastrop, graduated, and then figured out, “Damn! I don’t have enough money to go to a University!” She had been working for people off and on whenever she could to make some more money to pay for the next semester of classes. Textbooks weren't cheap these days. ‘No, they damn well aren’t!’ she thought.

She made herself a sandwich and then decided that she really needed to do some homework. ‘I know! I’m a procrastinator! I can’t help it!’ she thought to herself. The only problem was that, yes, she procrastinated about doing her homework, but the whole time she wasn’t doing it, she was worrying about it getting done. ‘It’s a horrible never-ending cycle!’ she thought.

Two American Lit papers, an economics worksheet, and twenty-five pre-calculus problems later, and she was ready to call it a night. ‘I guess I better hit the hay. There’s no telling how dirty this guy’s house is.’

____________________

Ryan, on the other hand, was still awake.

‘I’m so glad I told my agent to get the cable and everything else hooked up before I got here!’

Ryan sat on his dark green couch channel-surfing, not really knowing, or caring, what was on.

‘Why am I here?’ he thought. ‘Why did she leave me? Why was I stupid enough to believe that she could love me? Of course,’ he decided, ‘the only reason she was with me was because I’m attractive and her c.d. sales were starting to go down.’

‘Gahhhh! I really shouldn’t be beating myself up about this! Tomorrow is a new day, and I’m in a new place!’

A saying that his mother used to always say, to him and his brothers when they were feeling upset, popped into his head, “Every cloud has a silver lining!”

‘Wow Mom!’ he thought, ‘how corny does that sound. But, I guess it is true! If She had never done this to me I would have never come here to just get away for a while and relax.’
Ryan looked at the clock which read 2:11 am, and decided it was time to go to sleep. He walked into his room, lay down on his bed (which didn’t have any sheets on it), pulled the comforter up and over his dark head of hair, and fell asleep only a few moments later.