Living & Breathing, Etc.

I slept soundly and dreamlessly that first night. After the confusion about the occurrence of Nora's death, which thankfully did not occur, that sort of peaceful experience was just the thing I needed. When I woke up the next morning, it wasn't even nine o'clock. The sun was peering through the old, bent shades. I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow, reluctant to leave my bed. The smell of bacon in a frying pan finally pulled me out of bed and into the kitchen.

"Good morning," I chimed. Nora looked up and me and nodded. I noted that she looked particularly frazzled this morning.

"Hi," she replied shortly. "Here's breakfast." She violently slapped some of the popping bacon on a plate, which she practically threw at me.

"Thanks, Aunt Nora," I said as she swept out of the kitchen, her hair rollers precariously dangling from her head. I sat down at the small table and crunched on the bacon silently. Perhaps Nora just didn't get a good sleep last night. Or maybe Mom was right, and she really did feel lonely. Or maybe Mom was wrong and Nora was really pissed about having to babysit a teenager for the whole summer. I sighed, rinsed off my plate, and set it in the dishwasher.

"Here's directions to the Elliot's place," Nora said. She gently set a piece of paper on the table. I smiled at her, thankful that her bad mood had disappeared, and looked at the directions. They weren't too complicated. I just had to go east down the main road and then turn right, and then left.

"Thanks," I said. "I'll probably head down there this evening or tomorrow."

"I don't think they're open on Mondays," Aunt Nora mentioned, shaking her head. "You'll have to go by tomorrow." I shrugged. Weeding it was, then.

"That sounds just fine," I replied. "Is it okay if I just start clearing out stuff in the beds?" Nora laughed.

"You're gonna be my little fixer-upper, yeah?"

"I guess so," I laughed, blushing a bit.

"Just like your momma. I tell you what. The gardening gloves are in the garage. You go get those and you're free to do whatever you want to do. Just let me know if you need anything and make sure not to get too much sun on those cheeks of yours." I agreed to her conditions and headed upstairs to change out of my pajamas and into some more suitable and cooler clothes. I pulled on a sports bra, a white Hanes tee, and some running shorts. The outfit felt a little cool in the house, but hopefully the sun would warm me up once I got outside. Eager to get started, I headed out of my room without bothering to wash my face or pick up the clothes I'd thrown on the floor.

On my way to the back staircase, which I hoped would put me closer to the door to the garage, I passed the blue room. The memory of the rotten smell from the day before came back to my mind. I paused and rested my hand on the door. What had caused it? Had someone left a candy or sweet in there that had rotted? Or maybe some old perfume had spilled and mildewed. I bit my lip and gazed down the hallway at the stairs, knowing that it probably wasn't a good idea to keep snooping around Aunt Nora's stuff, especially considering how she'd reacted when I'd discovered that picture after Uncle Jack's funeral. It was a better idea just to tell Nora that something stunk in her other guest room. But before I could stop myself, my hand pushed forward and I was in the blue room again. The first thing that caught my eye was the bed. The quilt had been changed. The old white and blue diamond quilt had been replaced by a brown and red quilt that almost clashed with the walls. I stepped backwards and gently closed the door behind me. I really wasn't supposed to snoop.

I wiped more sweat off my forehead. I was thankful for the cool top. There was a nice breeze to keep me relatively cool, but it turned out I'd underestimated the power of the Kentucky sun. Apparently, we were still in the South. Not quite the tropics, like Houston, but the sun undoubtedly burned with a southern fire. I pulled at another half dead bush and its roots reluctantly began to give. I tugged harder, clenching my teeth, and the plant erupted from the ground, knocking me on my butt. I groaned and threw the dead bush thing to the side. I pushed myself up off the ground and rubbed my sore backside, then tried to stretch my stiff arms.

Oh, gosh. I sucked at being a farmgirl.

Not that this was really farmgirl type stuff. This was more just like countryside girl stuff. Apparently, I sucked at that too. Thank goodness Nora had sold the cows after Uncle Jack's death. There was no way I'd be able to handle that. The weeding had been the worst. There were clovers everywhere. At first I thought they were all four-leaf clovers and I was pretty pleased to find a whole patch of them. But upon closer examination, I realized that they all had five leaves. I'd never heard of a five-leaf clover. Did that mean more luck? I reminded myself to look it up on the internet later that day.

I looked at the front of the house and surveyed my progress. All the dead bushes were out, and most of the weeds with them. Maybe my sore arms were worth it. I smiled to myself, imagining how nice the house would look with some yellow daffodils or white vincas. I had no idea if those were right for the climate or whatever, but I thought they might look pretty with the brick. Or maybe purple and white vincas? That'd look lovely. But how much upkeep did that require? I'd only be here for two months, and I didn't want to leave Nora with a ton of work on her hands. Maybe getting something simple would be a better idea. I sighed. I'd just have to ask one of the Elliots tomorrow.

"Do you want some lemonade?" Nora asked, poking her head out the window. I looked up and felt like kissing her feet.

"That'd be great," I replied, eager to quench my thirst. My throat felt positively parched after working in the sun for over two hours. I began to move the dead plants and weeds into large, black plastic bags that I'd found in the garage. The door opened after a few minutes.

"Here you go, Tegan," Nora said, handing me a plastic cup filled to the brim with lemonade. I took it and gratefully drank half of the glass.

"Thank you so much," I sighed. "This is delicious."

"Where'd you find the plastic bags?" Nora asked sharply. I glanced at her with raised eyebrows.

"Uh, I found them in the garage... is that okay?" I asked hesitantly, not quite sure what I'd done to offend her. Nora looked torn between annoyance and indifference.

"I suppose. Just don't poke around too much, okay? I don't want anything to fall on you," she said. I nodded. Um, freaky much? Nora and I stood side by side and stared at my progress. I waited for her to say something.

"Looks like you got a whole lot done," she finally commented. Her tone suggested that her frustration had worn off and I let my shoulders relax.

"Yeah, I think I'll clean everything up and then see about the backyard," I shared. Nora nodded.

"What are you going to plant there?" she asked. I tilted my head.

"I'm not quite sure. I was thinking some purple and white vincas might look nice, but I don't really know what works around here. I'll just ask the Elliots what they think." Nora continued to look on in silence.

"Maybe some white heather would be nice," she eventually suggested. "I'll get lunch started. It'll be ready in half an hour or so." She turned around and went back inside.

I continued to work on the yard until lunch was ready. When Nora called me in, I found that she'd made an assortment of small sandwiches. I avoided the turkey and swiss, but gobbled up the cucumber sandwiches and the ham and American cheese sandwiches. There was no doubt about it- Aunt Nora was a little cuckoo (and bipolar) but she made a good meal. After finishing lunch, I showered off and decided to begin work inside the house.

"Aunt Nora?" I called.

"In the living room," she called back. I skipped down the stairs to the living room where Nora sat reading an old-looking book with no visible title.

"I thought I could dust or vacuum or organize closets or whatever. Do you have a preference of order?" Nora inspected me from over the top of her book.

"Vacuuming would be nice. The carpet down here could probably use it. How about you get the vacuum out of the closet in the kitchen?"

"Should I do upstairs too?"

"Just do your room," Nora instructed. "There's no point in going much of anywhere else. No one's living up there but you. And don't bother with my room either. I'll keep that clean myself." I shrugged and did her bidding. Before starting up the vacuum, I plugged some headphones into my ears to distract myself. Hopefully, my whole summer wouldn't be spent doing chores, but I wanted to at least earn my keep. It seemed as though Aunt Nora just barely tolerated my presence at times.

I started with the downstairs rooms, all but hers, and then moved upstairs. I passed the vacuum over my camel-colored carpet, then shut it off. I sighed and sat down on my bed. The clock read 2:30. Was there really a good reason not to go ahead and vacuum a little more? My mind immediately leapt to the blue room. Maybe if I vacuumed in there, it'd help with the smell. I got up, put my headphones back in, and lugged the vacuum to the blue room. I plugged it up in the hallway and switched it on. I vacuumed the long hallway first, then made my way back to the door of the blue room and pushed it open. I carefully stepped inside and sniffed. The room smelled like the rest of the house. I wrinkled my brow and walked further in, pushing the vacuum around. My headphones started emitting a static noise. I twisted the connection, but the static continued. I gripped the handle of the vacuum, ignored the noise, and pressed onward. The static grew louder, and I realized that the static didn't sound quite like static. It sounded like a whisper.

I stumbled out of the blue room. The vacuum dragged behind me and the static whispering silenced.

"There's no one else living up here but me," I murmured to myself. I paused and thought for a moment.

"There's no one else living up here but me," I repeated.

I returned to my room with its cheery green walls and sat down at the desk. I crouched under the desk and found a cable outlet to plug my laptop in. Aunt Nora didn't have wireless, but I figured that was a luxury I could live without for two months, as long as I didn't have to use the beast of a computer that she kept in the study downstairs. Once the internet finally decided to connect on my laptop, I opened up Google and looked up the meaning of a five-leaf clover. I scrolled down and clicked on a random link.

"A four-leaf clover... good luck," I read aloud. "A five-leaf clover is a symbol of... bad luck." I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my arms.

"There's no one else living up here but me." I went back to the search page and typed in "White Heather." White heather represents protection from danger. I sighed with relief.