A Bed of Roses

Is that why you left him?

 

Oh. Umm. Not exactly. Well I didn't, I mean, I was going to, well, I kind of did, I guess. But now I don't know.

Why don't you start at the beginning. How did you end up at his place?

 

Oh. That's kind of a long story. Well, when I ran into George at Espresso Express

In the back room....

Right. He was telling me that he'd bought a building. An old brownstone a few blocks away. He was in the process of renovating it into luxury apartments that he was going to rent out. He gave me the address. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

No. Of course not.

I mean, I'm happily married to Robi. Just because I know where George lives, doesn't mean I'm going to leave my husband.

No, of course it doesn't.

 

Well, one day I was Downtown, in the new old section. My favorite store was having a sale on leather. And you know, I have to have the right clothes for these parties I go to.

Naturally.

I hadn't seen George in over a year. He was never working when I went into Espresso Express, but you know, he's management now, and they're opening up franchises all over Legacy Land. It's not like I was out looking for him.

 

The new old section of Downtown is really nice. Most of the old buildings have been restored, and there's a lot of great shops that have opened up. But then I walk past this one building and it's completely trashed. Garbage all over the place, and nearly over grown. It was disgusting.

 

I wondered if it was an abandoned building or something. And then I saw the address. It was familiar. And then the name on the mailbox. McCarthy. This was George's place. And someone had trashed it horribly.

 

I thought I'd better go check and see if anyone was inside. I didn't even know if George was still living there. . Something was obviously wrong. So I went in to see what was going on.

Seems like a logical thing to do.

 

The downstairs was obviously still under renovation. So I went upstairs, and found a place that looked like it might be George's.

So you knocked.

I knocked.

 

It took a long time. But someone finally answered the door.

Oh my gosh!

 

It was George. He looked awful. He asked me what I was doing there.

What are you doing here?

And I told him I was in the neighborhood and saw this trashed out building and realized that it was his address and I wondered if everything was alright.

I guess so. Did you want to come in or something?

He shurgged, and asked if if I wanted to come inside. I was so surprised to see him like this. I didn't know what else to do.

 

He apologized for his place.

Listen, I don't get many visitors. I wasn't expecting you. the place is kind of a wreck right now.

He wasn't kidding. There was trash everywhere, and the furniture looked like someone pulled it out of a dumpster. I know how much George likes to have nice things, so this really wasn't adding up.

 

George, I haven't seen you in ages. I thought this was a luxury apartment building and you were Mr. Mega Businessman. What happened?

Oh, I've just been so busy with the Espresso Express stores that the rennovations fell behind. It's taking a little longer than I expected to get it fixed up. But the place has tons of potential. Right? Let me give you the grand tour.

So I followed George through what was supposed to be a kitchen, into what was supposed to be a bedroom. It's hard to believe, but it smelled even worse than it looked, and the worst part is George matched it perfectly.

So, uh, this is the bedroom. The wallpaper's vintage, and I know a guy who can help me restore the hardwood. It's gonna be great though, once I get it fixed up.

George. How long have you been here?

Uh, like a year, I guess. But it takes a long time for the permits and stuff.

Do you need a permit for a shower or a mop?

Maybe it was rude to say that, but this just wasn't George.

I didn't mean to make him cry. It's just that his place was so filthy. Like he'd moved into this old building and never touched anything, like he was a homeless man or something.

Aww George. Don't cry. Really. I'm just concerned, as your friend. I can tell something is wrong. This place isn't you. What happened?

I don't know Cali. It started as a bad day, and it's just never ended. I mean, I see Robi killing bugs all over town, and you're so happy with him, and it's all just become so empty for me now. It's like no matter how many Espresso stores I open, it's all just empty. I'm not making the kind of money you'd think either, even with seven stores, the franchise fees are killing my bottom line. It doesn't mean anything. I thought I'd be married, that I'd have someone to share it all with.I.....I thought I'd have you to share it with. But I'm just alone Cali. I'm completely alone. I feel as empty and run down as this building. I know I look like hell. I just don't know why I do anything anymore.

 

So what was I supposed to say? I've known George since Jr. High. He's been a friend for a long time. And he was really hurting. Maybe it was even my fault. It seemed like the only decent thing to do would be to help him out a little. The poor guy was drowning in filth. So I told him...

Do you have a bathtub George? I mean, one that works?

He nodded.

Then I'm going to run you a hot bath, and you're going to sit in there while I try to do something about this place. Nobody ever pulled themselves together living in a garbage dump.

So I ran him a bubble bath.

And I told him he couldn't get out until he was George McCarthy again.

 

And then I started to work on cleaning his place. I really wondered what I'd gotten myself into. It was disgusting. There was trash everywhere, and everything looked like it was covered in decades of dirt.

First I tried to get rid of as much trash as I could. When will men learn that garbage doesn't take itself out???

The mop kept sticking to the floor.

Fortunately, I inherited quite a few cleaning genes from my mother and eventually the dirt started to disappear.

But that was just the kitchen. I quickly learned why George didn't even use the second bathroom. A hole had rusted through the bath tub and there was a permanent drip in the faucet. And the toilet. Oh my gosh. Had it EVER been flushed?? Gag me with a plunger.

I don't think I've ever cleaned so much in my whole life. Being a former maid, my mother has always kept a pretty clean house. I didn't know dirt could be so dirty.

There were about a million trips to the trash can.

I cleaned up as much as I could outside the building. The whole place had just been seriously negelected.

It was theraputic I guess. All that cleaning. I felt like I was erasing some of the damage I might have done to George by not marrying him. I mean, I never thought he'd take it so hard. I really hoped this would help him get his life back on track.

When it was done, it really did look a lot better.

That was really nice of you to do for your friend George.

Well. I did feel bad, seeing him so depressed and living in such an awful place. It was the least I could do for a friend, you know? I mean, he'd probably do the same for me.

Would he? Well, what happened after you cleaned up his place?

 

 

 

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