“Yeah, let’s get you back home. You can take a nap while I cook.” he said as he started walking away.
When we got into his car, he pulled out one of those trees I picked out and opened it. It filled the car with a beautiful smell, but it was ever so slightly too strong. He hung it on his rear view mirror, and I rolled down my window.
“Why are you doing that? I thought you liked this smell.”
“I do. It’s just too strong.”
“Don’t worry, it will get weaker in a couple of days.”
Max started up his newly super fragrant car and made his way out of the messy parking lot. Parking lots were confusing; there were arrows telling you where to go, but nobody ever followed them.
There are also lines for parking spaces, but a lot of people just drive right over them. Why were all those lines and arrows there if nobody listened to them? Why couldn’t people just park and drive as they please? That’s what they did anyway, so why put them there, especially if no one was going to enforce the rules of the lines and arrows.
We made our way out of the parking lot and onto the road. Max began to sing to one of the songs on the radio. Sometimes he could sing fairly well, but other times he did a very poor job. I was lucky; it was one of his good singing days, and my ears were blessed with pleasant sounds rather than bombarded with ear splitting screeches.
The drive was quite like normal, and I, as per usual, watched the bland buildings slowly fade into trees. Why were trees so beautiful? Long slender trees with brilliant green leaves looked so healthy and lively.
Sometimes, I felt like I could talk to these slender trees and believed that they would be very childlike in their responses. They might have said things like “I want to drink all the water, so I can grow big and strong like Mommy and Daddy.”
My favorite trees, though, were the big, strong oak trees with thick trunks that stretched to the sky. If these majestic trees were able to talk to me, they would have sounded much wiser than the slender trees. The big oaks would have seen much more and would have experienced much more as well.
I liked to think that if they could have talked to me they would have told me stories of when they were saplings, or how the climate wasn’t always so hot. They may even complain about deforestation and argue that it's doing nothing helpful for the technically advanced economy that people talked so highly of.
Bushes were interesting as well. Low to the ground, but somehow so lively. It didn’t seem to bother them to be so much shorter than their neighbors. These plants were way more interesting than any old city building with no personality.
Max and I made it home just short of sunset. He walked inside to prepare dinner, while I walked around the house towards the backyard. He wasn’t a big fan of letting me walk around by myself, but every now and then he’d let me do as I pleased as long as I followed certain rules.
Once in the backyard, I layed down in the grass in an area that Max would be able to see me from the windows. I relaxed as I layed down and watched as the sun slowly set behind the tree line.
If I listened closely, the forest whispered good night at every corner. Birds would chirp farewells to one another and make their way to their own little homes. Deer would slowly creep around trees to their resting areas after a busy day of socializing with friends.
However, not everyone in the forest went to sleep at sunset. The raccoons would wake up from their slumber and prepare for elaborate parties or sneaky trash raids. Opossums would come out from their hiding places and make their way around the forest in search of food or maybe even a new friend.
I was enjoying the stars when Max opened the back door to yell, “foods ready!”
I got up off the ground and made my way into the house. The smell of the stirfry flooded my nose; it was pleasant. I sat down at the table and waited as Max prepared my plate.
As he placed the plate in front of me, I inspected its contents. Max had cooked thinly cut potatoes and narrow slices of sausage mixed in with cooked bell peppers and jalapenos. He also prepared brown rice and served the stirfry on top of it. It looked really good, and I was happy to dig in.
The first bite was amazing! I couldn’t pin down the flavor; every bite brought a new hidden flavor. It was as if the dish was trying to hide its flavor from me and wanted to remain a mystery. Before I knew it, my plate was empty.
I picked up my plate and carried it into the kitchen so that I could put it into the sink. I walked out of the kitchen and made my way to our bedroom. I walked in and grabbed a pair of underwear and went to the bathroom.
I stripped down and turned on the hot water, so it could start warming up. I put my hand under the faucet to feel the water as it warmed up. When it began to get hot, I turned on the cold water. I played with the hot and cold water trying to make it a comfortable temperature to take a shower.
Once satisfied, I turned the knob that makes the shower turn on and climbed in after that first blast of cold water passed. Showers were relaxing and brought a tranquil peace with them. I enjoyed the water as it cascaded down my body before I actually cleaned myself.
After my shower, I went back to mine and Max’s bedroom and climbed into the bed. I was almost asleep when Max climbed into the bed with me. The sounds of him breathing next to me made me feel relaxed. It gave me a sense of security and made me feel as if nothing could hurt me.
I didn’t remember falling asleep, but the next day, I woke up to Max calling my name. When I got up, he left the room to continue whatever it was he was doing. I slowly climbed out of the bed and stretched my limbs out. I walked to the closet and grabbed a random set of clothes and wiggled into them.
I’m not sure when I became so comfortable living with Max. At first, it was nerve racking and I was unsure of every action I did. This included picking out clothes. When I first moved into his house, I didn’t have any clothes so he allowed me to borrow his. They were all slightly too large for me, but they did the job and covered me up.
I used to be very hesitant to pull any of his clothes out of the closet because I wasn’t sure if it was really okay. I had my own clothes eventually, but sometimes I still used his shirts.
It took awhile for me to be comfortable even with other simple events. I wouldn’t sit down anywhere until Max invited me, or I would ask to use the bathroom. It was strange to think of how much I had changed in the time I had lived with Max.
I was about to leave the room when Max opened the door, “you’re so slow. Come on, breakfast is almost done.”
I grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and threw it at him.
He smiled at me, “was that a challenge?”
“In your dreams. You know I would win.”
“Yeah right!” he exclaimed as he threw the pillow back at me.
“Hey! You can’t get away with that.” I chased after him as he bolted out of our bedroom.
“You can’t catch me! I’m better than the gingerbread man!” he mocked me.
“You’re such a child.”
“You’re not any better than I am. Now, put the weapon down and sit at the table.”
“I would like to keep my weapon for safety measures.”
“You think a pillow can protect you?” He asked as he lunged towards me.
I swung the pillow and landed a direct hit on him, but this didn’t deter him at all. He grabbed one of my arms and raised it to the air. He took his other hand and began to tickle my armpit.
“Hey! Stop that!” I shouted as I struggled to get away from him. He let go of my arm and stopped tickling after a few seconds. He then grabbed me by the waist and lifted me off of the floor. He walked towards the table and plopped me into my regular chair at the table.
He walked away from me to go into the kitchen. I watched as he walked away from me. His walk was still something special. How was he able to have so much confidence in his steps? He grabbed two plates out of the cabinet near the stove and placed three pancakes each on them.
While I was sitting, I was straining to see what was in the pancakes. They had dark little circles in them, but I couldn’t tell by looking at them or the counter if they were blueberries or chocolate chips. He came back into the dinning room and placed one of the plates in front of me and the other in front of his chair. He quickly went back into the kitchen and came back with a bottle of syrup.
He sat down on his chair and began cutting up his pancakes with his fork as I poured a ton of syrup onto my pancakes. I looked at him and asked, “Blueberries or chocolate chips?”
“Chocolate chips.” he responded to me as I handed him the syrup.
We ate in silence, which was always nice. We quickly finished eating followed by Max cleaning the kitchen. While he cleaned, I went into the living room and sprawled out across the couch. I grabbed the remote for the t.v. and turned it on. I flipped through all the different channels before settling on a nature documentary on the discovery channel.
I was engrossed in the documentary when Max came into the living room and sat on my back. “Hey! You’re too fat for this.” I shouted at him.
“Ouch, you hurt my feelings. I’m not fat. Tell me I’m not fat.”
“You’re heavy get off of me.”
“Say the magic word.”
“Oh my god, you jerk.”
“All you have to do is say the magic word.”
“Fine, please,”
“That’s not the magic word.”
“Abra cadabra.”
“Nope. Just think harder about what I’m asking of you.”
“The magic word?” I responded in a questioning voice.
“Are you telling me or asking me.”
“Just get off my back already.”
He got off my back, and I sat up straight on the couch. “Wanna go to the river today?” Max asked me as he settled down onto the couch.
“The one you were talking about yesterday?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded my head to let him know I was interested, and he got up and walked out of the living room. I continued to watch the documentary as I waited for him to do whatever it was that he was doing. He walked around the house, and I assumed he was preparing for a long day out in the woods.
On one of his trips past the living room, he threw a pair of swimming shorts at me. He didn’t stick around long enough to ask him any sort of questions, so I abandoned my documentary and headed to the bathroom to put on the swim shorts. When I got back into the living room, the t.v. had been turned off. I was sure that Max turned it off on one of his many trips across the house.
Finally, Max came to me and announced, “we’re ready, let’s go.” He began walking towards the backdoor, and I tagged closely behind him. As we walked towards the tree line, Max grabbed my hand, causing a strange tingle to run through my body. It was strange of him to hold my hand, but I figured he didn't want me to get too far away from him.
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