aturday morning dark, cloudy, damp, and windy with a gray overcast sky. My Radio/Alarm clock started to buzz at six, without thinking I hit the snooze button. Six minutes later it was buzzing again. My eyes shot open and for a brief moment I thought about reaching over, snatching the alarm clock from my night stand and tossing it halfway across the room. That thought vanished a few seconds later, the alarm clock had cost me ten dollars. Repairing the window, if I tossed it through the window would cost the better part of sixty dollars. Two weeks' allowance gone down the drain. For what? A sudden outburst of teen anger.
Sighing I reached over and turned the lock off. The digital clock read six o' six in the morning. Early enough I suppose, since most of the time I normally sleep in till eight or maybe nine in the morning. Sometimes I even sleep till noon, depending on how late I stayed up the night before. What can I say, I'm something of a night owl. I spend my days reading cheap paper books and spend my nights talking on Discord with my online friends or binge watching my favorite shows on Netflix.
As I lifted myself from my nest of pillows and blankets, I started to wonder why today felt special. Like today was going to change something for me. Then I looked over at the calendar. Today was circled and somebody, most likely my mother, had written in a little note that read. “Volunteered”. It then hit me like a ton of bricks, today I had volunteered to dress up like Dotty? And I still had no idea what a Dotty was or what I had volunteered for. Madeline had been very vague when she went over the details, the poster left much to be desired for when it came to some solid information. The only thing I knew is a lot of people were donating money. I saw “Feed Dotty!” Posters plastered all over town the last few days. All the local merchants had then taped up in their windows.
I just shrugged my shoulders. I was sure I'll find out soon enough. The event was to take place at ten that morning in the town square. But text revealed the event was to take place in Goose Egg Park, a park that was only a few houses down from where I lived. Now I've passed Goose Egg Park a dozen or so times before. It's kind of located dead splat in the middle. Anyway the event was supposed to take place at ten, but they wanted me there at nine to get ready. So that left me with a little over three hours.
With that in mind I rolled out of bed. As soon as my feet landed on the wooden floor, I started to make my bed. Once my bed was made I marched off to the shower. Once I reached the bathroom, I stripped off my pink nightgown and tossed it on the floor. I then turned the water on and stepped under the steamy mist. A few moments later I felt much better, I felt awake, and clean. Once I finished my personal business, I towed off and walked toward my room. Without thinking I slipped on one of the new pairs of panties and bra's mom bought me a few days ago. I then slipped on a pair of old jeans and a shirt, you causal wear around the house.
It was then Seven in the morning and I could smell bacon cooking from the kitchen. Well I could smell bacon cooking, coffee brewing and the morning news playing. Dad always listened to the morning news while he cooked Saturday morning breakfast. I liked it when dad cooked, he cooked hearty things like bacon, eggs, french toast, pancakes, and waffles. Mom on the other hand liked a light morning meal, so most of the time you'll have some turkey sausage, a bagel, or an English Muffin. Normally with a side of plain Greek yogurt or something. The turkey sausage, bagel and English Muffin I could handle. But I could never develop a taste for yogurt in any favor.
And to wash it all down, you had your choice of either cold milk, hot coffee, hot chocolate, builders tea, and sometimes orange juice when mom remembered to buy some. We also had something called Bright and Early, an sugary orange flavored drink that graced the breakfast tables of southern families for generations.
After taunting myself for a few minutes by just sniffing the air I decided to bite the bullet and go down stairs. Before long I found myself peering into the kitchen. As I expected dad was hovering over the stove. His hand wrapped around the handle of an iron skillet, he was flipping a link of pork sausage around. Mom was sitting at the table dressed in her night robe. She was sipping a cup of coffee, you could smell the hazelnut creamer in it. Mom loves the stuff.
“Morning petals.” Mom said with a big smile. “You're up early.” She added as she took another long sip of her coffee. Mom seemed to be almost glowing in the morning light. I wonder if I'll do that when I'm her age and married and having to deal with a teenage daughter or son. You know, wake up glowing like a rose in summer. Looking fresh as a Lily.
“Morning mom.” I said, settling down at the table.
“So ready to play Dotty?” Mom said smiling.
“I guess..” I said blushing. “Though I don't know what that means..” I said blushing. “I kind of jumped before I looked if you will.” I said blushing. At that moment dad placed a plate of food in front of me. It was around three sausage links, a mountain of scrambled eggs, a few pieces of toast.
“Thank you.” I said smiling softly as I watched dad nod his head and return to his cooking.
“Average. Thankfully I did some digging for you. By agreeing to play 'Dotty' you have agreed to dress up as 'Dotty The Dalmatian Princess' a popular cartoon character that appears on the PBS. Anyway you're going to dress up as Dotty, a more human version of her. And perform some tricks for the crowd. Fetch, roll over, sit, beg and shake. You know all that fun stuff.” Mom was beside herself now. She was really giggling hard. “Basic doggy princess stuff. I think you even have to speak. Its going to be cute and I'm going to snap dozens and dozens of pictures.” Mom then paused.
“And there is a surprise for you in the end.” Mom said with a wink.
“And people pay money for that?” I asked.
“People pay money for a lot of stuff. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold.” I nodded my head, and bent down and picked up my fork. I was just about to spear a piece of sausage till a distant peal of thunder roared out. A moment later the sound came again it was getting closer then time and after another moment it was right on top of us.
After the third echo of thunder, rain started to fall. You could hear the rain smacking upon the window panes. A boom of thunder caused the house to rattle. As soon as the rain started the lights started to flicker on and off. It had been threatening to rain all of yesterday afternoon and all this morning. And now it seemed mother nature had at last made up her mind and decided to hell with our plans, Its going to rain.
“Man.” Dad said looking out the kitchen window and onto the backyard. “It's coming down. It's totally raining cats and dogs out their.” He said pausing as he pulled the storm door open and stepped out onto the covered patio. A sudden gust of cold wind blew across the kitchen table. The tree's were bending with the wind and the laundry mom had hung out last night on clothes line flapped like phantoms.
“Oh dear. And I had a lot of chores planned for today.” Mom said with a sigh. Just then the house phone started to ring. Mom and dad exchanged looks. And I just sat there. I was kind of lost for words. Mom let the phone ring for about a minute before she picked it up.
“Good Morning, Huntington Household.” Mom said. “Oh, oh yes she is right here. Yes..Yes,” She said, nodding her head along with the speaker on the other end of the line. “Here let me, let you speak to her, she right here.” Mom said as she covered the receiver with her hand. “Lauren its for you.” She said holding the phone out.
I blinked and blinked again, Nobody ever called me, hell most of the time my friends on Discord never really wanted to talk to me. And here somebody was calling me. Puzzled I stood up, walked over and took the phone in my hand and pressed the receiver to my ear.
“Good morning. Lauren Huntington.” I said. A moment later a voice came crackling over the phone.
“Hey Lauren, It's Madeline, the girl from the library. Anyway I'll keep this short. I was going to call you on your cell. But when when I looked over your form, I noticed you kind of left that blank, but you did jot down your house number so that why I'm calling your landline.” She stated. “Anyway, as you can tell it's really coming down outside. And From the looks of things, we might have to postpone, no chancel our event. The one were you were going to play Dotty. Sorry..” Madeline said, I was struck by how she sounded, she sounded really crestfallen.
“Hey it's okay...” I'm unsure what else to say. I was still at a loss. “Maybe we can move it to next Saturday.” I said, trying to cheer her up. To be honest I was a little relieved. And I silently prayed a prayer of thanks for any God or Goddess that might be tuning in. It seemed this little rain shower had saved me from doing something really dump.
“No, Next Saturday they're going to host the Dotty Fund-Raiser in Yazoo City.. anyway I just wanted to call you and say thanks for volunteering. If something else comes up, I'll keep you in mind.” She paused. “Anyway I'll let you go now. Thanks again, bye-bye.” And with that she hung the phone up.
“Who was that honey?” Mom asked the moment I hung the phone up.
“Oh that was Madeline...” I said returning to my seat.
“Who's Madeline?” Mom asked as she poured herself another cup of coffee.
“She is a girl that is a few years older than me. She works part time at the library. She is pretty cool. I also think she likes the head waitress down at that anime style maid cafe that opened a few years ago on main street. 'Sweet Magnolia' is what I think it's called. It's like a southern style tea room and bakery. About two years and a half years ago Lily Potter and her friend Robin Peers opened it.”
Mom nodded her head.
“Have you been down there? I know you love exploring the town and all. So I figured you've been to every little shop this town has to offer.” Mom asked as she sipped her coffee.
“No ma'am. Not yet anyway.” I said truthfully.
“What's Madeline's last name?” Dad inquired as he returned to his cooking.
“Brewer.” I answered.
“Fine people. Kayla Brewer owns Brewer Christmas Tree Farm.. She is a really keen business woman. And she does a lot for the community. Her wife is the hostess for Heather's House Party, a popular PBS talk show. Their daughter I assume Madeline is a real social butterfly in town. She is a good friend to have. And Lily Potter is the oldest daughter of William Potter and Sarah Potter. Both fine people, very business minded folks. They own the oldest general store in the state, Potter Mercantile..” Dad said in a sage tone of voice. Of course dad would know them. He's a chemical salesman.
“Well I think it's wonderful that you're finally coming out of your shell. And speaking of coming out of your shell. Monday, you and I have some business we need to handle. Dad and I have talked and we've both come to an agreement. It's time for you to open your own checking and saving account. So tomorrow morning both you and I are going to head down to the local bank and open an account in your name.”
I blinked.
“Your mom's right. You're going into High school in a few short weeks. There are a lot of things we need to cover. One you need to get your own checking and saving account, that is the first thing on the list. The second thing on the list we need to do is get you registered for school, and have all your records changed. Third thing, we need to get your teeth looked into.” Dad paused. “Fourth thing we need to do, get you driving so you can be like any other teen.”
“Problem is dad.” I said blushing a little. “I'm not like the other teens. I'm different.” I said to be honest I was kind of getting tired of all this stuff. I'm the kind of person that likes to tackle one thing at a time. So when you give me this big huge list of things that need to be done I kind of run a mild freak out if you will. That is to say I panic and when I start to panic I don't do well. I kind of lose track of everything going on around me, I stall and then nothing gets done. So having all this stuff thrown at me was a bit of an information overload.
“We understand your different honey. And your father and I are here to support you. Just think of these things as a little checklist. We care about you, and we want you to be the best person you can be. Besides, if say in a few months you wanted to get a job somewhere around town, sure you could use your bike and maybe you would walk to work if the weather was nice and sunny, and sure you could always take the trolley if you needed to. But, if you had your permit, you could take one of the cars.” Mom paused. “And plus a car warmer too, we get one or two good snow storms down here in Mississippi each winter. Best to have your own set of wheels if push comes to shove.”
“Okay.. So what are your plans for today?” I asked as I finished off my breakfast.
“We'll since it's raining cats and dogs, we can't do any of the chores I'd wanted to do. I was going to mow the front lawn and the backyard this morning. So I guess I'm going to catch up on my sleep.”
“So shut on the weekend?”
“Yep lazy weekend.” Mom said.
And that suited me just fine. After all the running around and shopping I've done this week, I needed a good long weekend along. Time to get my thoughts together and unwind and recharge. I was kind of glad the whole Dotty thing had been postponed.. man who am I kidding it's been canceled. And that suited me just fine, I needed some time alone to think and just do some self reflection.
And that's what I did, I practiced self care. I took a nice long shower, did my toenails and my finger nails then I settled in for a long afternoon of reading. Starting first with the four or five “Fear Street” books I owned and the few I had borrowed. Those lasted me till around noon. Then for lunch I ordered myself a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza from the newly opened Pizza Hut. Mom and dad decided to split a pizza. After lunch, I decided to binge watch episodes of “Are You Afraid Of The Dark?” including the two recent reboots. And finally around midnight I fell asleep.
I was hoping to laze around in bed all day Sunday, instead mom got me up, tossed me into the shower, squeezed me into a floral print dress and we joined dad for Mass down at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. After Mass we all had a nice family lunch And then I got to laze around in bed. So all in all it was a pretty good weekend.
To be continued~
