I have now turned into one of those mom’s. That has a full plate every day and every night I feel like I’m one of those infomercials about some sort of weight loss pill. All you see is me with my arms stretched out and the camera goes around me 360 degrees “Stress increases cortisol, cortisol increases belly fat…” and then my tummy area is highlighted and flashes blue “…any questions?”
So I apologize for letting my blog slide into almost blogernacle outer darkness. I think this week will be better. Without further ado… Remember when I posted my Rigby house and ya’ll got to vote on a story? This is a little story I wrote about a year ago somewhat fictionally about the Pink Bathtub that was in the Rigby house. Enjoy :) I hope :)
Mandy stared up at the pink ceiling. Flecks of paint were peeling off like a bad sun burn. Huge fleshy chunks in some areas, the white plaster showing through. All around the corners deep pockets of mold festered. The whole bathroom looked like it was suffering from a disgusting skin disease.
She swished her hair back and forth in the water. Her legs were scrunched up, her toes crammed in the water spout. She loved to feel her hair swish. Back and forth, back and forth. It was getting long enough now that she could actually feel it move with her. The weight of her hair dragging her head down a little in the water. The water humming around her ears as her hair broke against it.
Felt pretty good, she thought. No. Felt amazing. She reached up into her crown and scrubbed, and the motion sent sensations down her spine, all the way to her toes.
She heard a sound. It didn’t surprise her, didn’t shock her out of her thoughts. Even muffled, it was the most comforting sound she knew. She opened one eye, a water droplet balanced on her eyelash and then fell onto her cheek. Chrissy was looking down at her, her blonde hair framing her face like a curtain.
“Holy Geez woman. You done in there? Stop swishing your hair.” Chrissy said with a bemused smile. It didn’t bother her that Mandy was taking such a long time. It was good to see her happy.
Stepping out of the tub, Mandy grabbed for a towel and wrapped it around her head turban style. Even when she was bald she had wrapped her head this way. Probably because it gave the illusion of hair. Back then she didn’t have eyebrows either, so every day she would draw nice, beautiful, black brown, wet & wild eyebrows. Mandy thought she looked like a vintage actress from the 30’s with her eyebrows like that. You know the silent screen queens, petite, and dainty with their eyebrows arched in constant surprise!
Now her eyebrows were filling in. Which was definatly a good thing. Less freaky looking. Her body was also filling in and her skin was starting to turn a golden brown. Now that she was able to go sunning with Chrissy every day. She really wanted to go with Chrissy to “Planet Tan” to go fake baking as well. But Chrissy got in free cause her best friend Crystal worked there and would let her use a bed during her shift.
Once while Chrissy was in the back baking and Mandy was waiting in the lobby area, thumbing through an old magazine, Mandy had asked Crystal if she could fake bake in one of the beds.
Crystal, snapping her gum, looked over at her, very slow like and gave her a look like “you crazy?” thats all she did. She didn’t even answer Mandy.
But its probably because at the time Mandy still didn’t have any hair, still hadn’t gained any weight, still looked like a little alien. So she could understand why Crystal wouldn’t let her. Plus she still had her portacath, a little metal disc that lie right below her skin in her chest, (it was for the chemo) and she thought if she got in a bed the metal would get like really really hot and melt a hole through her skin.
She looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes big and round. The doctors loved looking in her eyes. They’d get their little instruments all out before them. Check her heart, check her breathing, check her ears. Then they’d check her eyes. They’d peer in and then immediately take a step back. “Wow” they’d say. “You have the most unusual eyes” Then they take a step back in and look into them and just stare. Mandy didn’t think her eyes were extraordinary. Just blue, fading into green, fading into brown, fading into yellow.
