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Authors: Renee J. Lukas
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eyes and everything was quiet.
That night, I lay wide awake in my bed, so distracted by the scary feelings I was having about Adrienne that I even forgot about the palmetto bugs. Was this going to be a year of sleepless nights?
Chapter Ten
I’d never showered in a public place before. In fact, I was one of those girls who couldn’t even pee in a public restroom if another woman was in the stall next door. My first morning before class, I went into the bathroom and waited for one of the showers that had a dingy shower curtain. The water had just stopped running in the one on the end, so whoever was using it would soon be out. Understandably, nobody wanted to use the curtainless ones.
A girl who looked as nervous as I was slid back the curtain and, clutching her towel, rushed by me without making eye contact. Juggling a basket of shampoo, soap and razors, I stepped into the shower carefully, trying to decide where to hang my towel. The tiles were already wet, and I could almost feel the mold and bacteria slithering over my feet and up my legs. I hung the towel gingerly over what I was certain was the contaminated curtain and curtain rod. Then as quickly as I could, I turned on the hot water, which was lukewarm now.
I soaped up as quickly as possible, fearful that someone might walk in on me. Or worse, that Adrienne might come in. Adrienne was probably one of those girls who had no boundaries about nudity. The night before, I’d made sure my back was to her while we dressed for bed. But she seemed like the type to strut around naked just to get a reaction. Or one of those spring break girls who flashes crowds from motel balconies. I bet she did that. I shuddered, angry with myself that the thought made me angry. What was my problem?
To avoid accidentally flashing a stranger myself, I was sure to make lots of throat-clearing noises. That way if anyone who came in and wondered, in spite of the already running water and mushroom cloud of steam billowing from its top, if the shower was occupied, they would know beyond a reasonable doubt that it was. It was the fastest, most stressful, heart-pounding shower ever taken in the history of showers.
I wrapped myself in my fluffy, but slightly damp towel, imagined getting toe fungus and hurried out of the shower room. Struggling to hold up my towel, I flew down the hall, my eyes fixed on the thin industrial carpet beneath my feet. I felt like some kind of streaker. It was like the dream you have that you’re naked in public. Only I was naked, with only a towel between me and the leering public. When I got back to the room, Adrienne left to take her turn in the shower.
As I hurried to get dressed before she came back and walked in on me, I thought about my father’s description of when he was in the infantry, where there had been rows of commodes with no walls or doors and guys were just passing the toilet paper roll to each other, like passing the salt at a table. Dad liked to talk about things that made my mom uncomfortable, especially after a few drinks, just to see the expression on her face. That had been one of his favorite stories.
While Dad did his best to act like he had been okay with those kinds of facilities, I knew that I definitely was not. This type of living arrangement wasn’t suitable for me. This was the way people lived in Third World countries. Why did they even bother giving us a bathroom at all? I wondered angrily. Why not just have a trough behind the building where everyone could pee? It was all so gross and undignified. I’d come from a house with six bathrooms, not a straw hut in the jungle. If I was a princess, as Adrienne called me, then so be it. I wasn’t supposed to be squatting in public places or committing acts of indecency every time I took a shower. This was all wrong.
Chapter Eleven
That night, Robin knocked on Kendrick’s bedroom door.
“Come in.” Robin could hear the apprehension in her daughter’s voice. She was probably
That night, I lay wide awake in my bed, so distracted by the scary feelings I was having about Adrienne that I even forgot about the palmetto bugs. Was this going to be a year of sleepless nights?
Chapter Ten
I’d never showered in a public place before. In fact, I was one of those girls who couldn’t even pee in a public restroom if another woman was in the stall next door. My first morning before class, I went into the bathroom and waited for one of the showers that had a dingy shower curtain. The water had just stopped running in the one on the end, so whoever was using it would soon be out. Understandably, nobody wanted to use the curtainless ones.
A girl who looked as nervous as I was slid back the curtain and, clutching her towel, rushed by me without making eye contact. Juggling a basket of shampoo, soap and razors, I stepped into the shower carefully, trying to decide where to hang my towel. The tiles were already wet, and I could almost feel the mold and bacteria slithering over my feet and up my legs. I hung the towel gingerly over what I was certain was the contaminated curtain and curtain rod. Then as quickly as I could, I turned on the hot water, which was lukewarm now.
I soaped up as quickly as possible, fearful that someone might walk in on me. Or worse, that Adrienne might come in. Adrienne was probably one of those girls who had no boundaries about nudity. The night before, I’d made sure my back was to her while we dressed for bed. But she seemed like the type to strut around naked just to get a reaction. Or one of those spring break girls who flashes crowds from motel balconies. I bet she did that. I shuddered, angry with myself that the thought made me angry. What was my problem?
To avoid accidentally flashing a stranger myself, I was sure to make lots of throat-clearing noises. That way if anyone who came in and wondered, in spite of the already running water and mushroom cloud of steam billowing from its top, if the shower was occupied, they would know beyond a reasonable doubt that it was. It was the fastest, most stressful, heart-pounding shower ever taken in the history of showers.
I wrapped myself in my fluffy, but slightly damp towel, imagined getting toe fungus and hurried out of the shower room. Struggling to hold up my towel, I flew down the hall, my eyes fixed on the thin industrial carpet beneath my feet. I felt like some kind of streaker. It was like the dream you have that you’re naked in public. Only I was naked, with only a towel between me and the leering public. When I got back to the room, Adrienne left to take her turn in the shower.
As I hurried to get dressed before she came back and walked in on me, I thought about my father’s description of when he was in the infantry, where there had been rows of commodes with no walls or doors and guys were just passing the toilet paper roll to each other, like passing the salt at a table. Dad liked to talk about things that made my mom uncomfortable, especially after a few drinks, just to see the expression on her face. That had been one of his favorite stories.
While Dad did his best to act like he had been okay with those kinds of facilities, I knew that I definitely was not. This type of living arrangement wasn’t suitable for me. This was the way people lived in Third World countries. Why did they even bother giving us a bathroom at all? I wondered angrily. Why not just have a trough behind the building where everyone could pee? It was all so gross and undignified. I’d come from a house with six bathrooms, not a straw hut in the jungle. If I was a princess, as Adrienne called me, then so be it. I wasn’t supposed to be squatting in public places or committing acts of indecency every time I took a shower. This was all wrong.
Chapter Eleven
That night, Robin knocked on Kendrick’s bedroom door.
“Come in.” Robin could hear the apprehension in her daughter’s voice. She was probably
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