You Are Here

I walked out onto the back porch in search of Keegan. The sun had just started to rise and he was not in his room. Or in the ballroom, or kitchen or anywhere else in the entire building. My mother was finishing up breakfast and the joy of alerting all of our guests that breakfast was moments from being served fell to my hands.

He sat perched on the railing of the porch a lit cigarette carelessly hanging from his lips. He faced the rising sun and took a deep drag.

"Breakfast," my voice caught in my throat as he turned to face me. I wished the cracks in the wood would open up and swallow me whole. His face was soft, like I had caught him in the middle of a sad memory. No sooner had I finished my thought did his face change to the angry scowl I had grown to expect.

He took another deep drag of his cigarette then hopped off of the railing. He threw the used filter onto the floor then rubbed the toe of his worn shoe into it, making sure it was out and making sure the black streaks of charcoal were deep in the wood. "I just, uhm, breakfast is ready."

"Fuck off."

I turned on my heels and nearly ran away from him. I was going to have to sweep up his used cigarettes and scrub out the marks in the flooring he had left. I was always left having to wait hand and foot on him, my father was too busy attempting to repair rusty door hinges and my mother was far too busy running the kitchen. I had to wash the forty towels he used a day and I had to vacuum his room while he sat on his bed and watched. It seemed as if he lived to piss me off.



I sat alone at the large dining room table. I could hear my mother whistling in the kitchen, exuberant that we had a guest with a pulse who woke up early enough for breakfast. A guest who had paid in cash for a whole months stay. I wouldn't tell her that he made my life hell.

The newspaper was spread in front of me, turned to the travel section. Today it was all about the beach. July fourth was days away and so many tourists and locals had flocked to the coast. The full color pictures depicted happy families on the shore with their children already sunburned and covered in sand. Kenton wasn't far from the beach but no happy families stayed here and there was never endless traffic on the small road to the Inn. I poured myself into the articles about fun loving teens enjoying their summers off tanning but getting into too much mischief late at night. I pretended I was one of them, tan and smiling, stories to tell, laughing with my friends.

The paper was torn from under me. I couldn't think straight. I had been ripped from a blissful world of fun and adventures and thrown back into an outdated Inn with no laughter and no friends. I wanted to curl up and die on the spot. I heard the shaking of the paper and the soft click of Keegans boots hit the top of the table.

"Ollie, honey." I looked up, first at Keegan then towards my mother. She beckoned for me to join her in the kitchen. I didn't say no, I wasn't doing anything better. I shuffled into the stuffy kitchen behind her and pressed my back against the door frame. "You know how Lance quit a few months back?" I nodded, our old grounds keeper had left for a more steady paying job at a real hotel in Charleston. He was not the first to notice that the Inn was on the brink of failure. There were no hard feelings. "We've finally found a replacement." She said finally as if she had been interviewing grounds keepers for months.

"Keegan?"

"Yes honey, he'll be moving to the room across from yours so you can help teach him what needs to be done and we can keep his room free for other guests. He'll be able to help you and your father really make the Inn come to life again. The best part is that he doesn't want a paycheck. Just a bed to sleep in and food in his belly." Her voice held such hope that I had no desire to reveal how much I hated this idea.

I walked back into the dining room and pulled the paper from his hands. I pushed his feet off of the table top then pulled the paper from his hands and left the room.