Moondance (Part Three)

When I returned to the house, I found Aunt Lea sitting at the kitchen table, reading a book.

The kitchen smelt wonderful, in fact I had smelt it before I mounted the verandah. Tina was sniffing away to, despite her already full stomach.

“Aunt Lea, Why are you a vegetarian?” I asked.

She thought for a moment and said “Well, there are many reasons, but one of the better ones is that I live on a farm, where I grow all kinds of fruit and vegetables, and tend to get more from neighbours, it’d be a shame to waste it, besides, it agrees with my insides.”

I was dying to try it “When will it be ready?”

“Twenty minutes ought to do it, but we’re taking it over to Dave’s house to share it, He has something for us too, Does that sound alright?”

I nodded, but hoped I’d get the lion’s share, I was hungry.

“Why don’t you pop into the shower and get dressed?” she said.

“But I am dressed” I said.

“A track-suit is not what I’d call dressed, When you go out, you get dressed up, that is how the game is played.” She said.

I wasn’t keen on that idea, all I wanted to do was eat, and Tina agreed with me, she licked her tiny chops.

So I walked to the bedroom reluctantly, but Tina continued to sit near the oven, shivering as she always did despite the warm evening, and the warm oven.

I found that while I’d been out to the orchard, My Aunt had chosen clean clothes for me to wear and had placed them neatly on my bed. She had also changed the bed, it had a purple quilt now, and the pillow cases were lavender.

I thought that was strange because I had only slept in the bed for a few hours, and Tina wasn’t dirty, she tended to keep out of mud and puddles, and wiped her feet before coming inside the house, which was a funny habit for a dog.

It was odd that the house was always so clean, I never saw Aunt Lea doing any house work, apart from cooking and gardening, which she loved.

One of my real Aunts had a messy home, but she was always busy with other matters, generally it was something for charity. Her home was dusty and laundry often sat unfolded in heaps on her couch, she didn’t think it mattered much.

And whenever Mum was home, she was either dusting, vacuuming or washing dishes.

I turned to find a couple of fluffy towels folded neatly on the chair in my bedroom.

I gathered up what I needed and took them to the bathroom, Aunt Lea continued to read her book at the kitchen table, at that age I was used to having Mum fuss over me, do this, don’t do that… But Aunt Lea just sat there as if everything was alright with the World.

The bathroom was small and simple, a shower recess, a hand basin, and a shelf like you’d find in an old train to put towels and things. nothing much else. a door lead out to the toilet which was built onto the verandah.

The shower recess looked solid, the walls covered in blue tiles, and the floor a dark slate.

A fresh cake of soap was in the soap holder, it looked like a huge deep purple boiled lolly, and smelt like blackberries.

After stripping off, the warm water cascading out of the great shower rose, which was the size of a dinner plate, felt wonderful, just like being rained on, if the rain was warm.

The shower steamed up and the fruity soap smelt much stronger, I loved it, I wondered where Aunt Lea had got it, perhaps she made it?

I rubbed the soap all over myself and washed my hair too.

The foam trailed down my legs and made floating islands which wandered around my feet and piled up around the drain.

Then I started rinsing off.

When I was happy I turned the water off, and stood there for a while.

Drip, drip, drip went the water as it fell from my head and body, along my arms, off my hands and onto the floor.

As it hit the pool around my feet, it made ripples just like rain does as it’s stopping.

My reflection gazed up at me, a drip broke it up, then it cleared, and again, and… who was that?

For a moment my reflection was not me.

Perhaps I was mistaken?, perhaps it was the light playing tricks?, maybe I was tired?

I watched, but the reflection never changed again.