The sky kept oozing rain just a little at a time. It let off for a bit, leaving cool, crisp air with a hint of new jessamine in bloom. Hector felt restless, because he had been cooped up in the house all day. The road out front was shiny wet. A tiny bit of sunlight struggled through the clouds, casting golden highlights on wet pines. He got his shoes on and grabbed his dog-stick off the porch.
Inhaling deeply of fresh, clean air, he shut the gate and took off down the road. A brisk walk was just what he wanted. “This will blow the cobwebs off me!” he thought as he started out. A cacophony of shrill voices cut through the quiet afternoon. It was a group of children trying to catch fish out of a ditch. They stood around with makeshift poles and string, topped off with open safety pins.
“You got to put a worm on it!” one little girl yelled. The rest of them started looking around on the ground for worms or other suitable insects. Hector chuckled to himself and walked on by. Pretty soon, a large brown dog ran up to him and started sniffing around. Hector grasped his stick more tightly, unsure of what the dog was going to do. He kept on walking. The dog followed him for a while, then went and laid back down in his own yard.
Suddenly a little black scooter zoomed past. It was driven by a man who was all hunched over and trying to smoke a cigarette while he drove. A flock of chickens obstructed his path, scattering wildly when he plowed on through. His thrown-away cigarette butt glowed orange in the road. One curious hen went over to inspect it, clucking in disgust as she joined the rest of her flock. “Grandma always said chickens were smarter than humans!” Hector said to himself.
Pretty soon, he came to the forest. Spring blossoms were just beginning to open, livening up the brown/gray landscape of Winter. Behind him, skies burst with orange and gold, flaming through a gathering mist. “Hector!” someone called from a nearby yard. He looked up to see a large blonde woman sitting in a fold out beach chair, furiously puffing on a cigarette. She had wildly permed hair and a permanently red face, as if she was angy all the time. “Come here for a minute!” she commanded. Right then, Hector knew his peaceful walk was over.
He meekly obeyed her urgent call, hoping she wouldn’t detain him too long, for darkness was fast approaching. “Set down for a minute. What you been up to? You been hiding out?”
she queried. “Just trying to keep busy!” he replied. “Oh well - I’m stuck now!” he surmised as his heart sank. In the distance he thought he heard a mourning dove. It was a sure sign the seasons were turning over.
“I sure wisht you’d help me move this chair I got. It’s smelling up the whole room.” The woman, whose name was Adele, kept pressing. “Why’s it smell so bad?” asked Hector, hoping fruitlessly for some kind of reprieve.
“Dern tomcats got in here and went to town making sure it was their territory!” Adele fussed.
“Can’t you clean it?” Hector suggested.
“Just as much trouble to do that as heave it out!” she asserted.
“Let’s go see it.” Hector scowled. So there they went.
It was so dark inside her trailer, Hector couldn’t see anything at first. Adele hit the light switch and the room became a nightmare of bad housekeeping. Clothes were piled up on every piece of furniture, as were old coffee cups with mold sprouting from ancient contents. Magazines, newspapers, bills, etc. took up most of the floor space. In between these items, a horde of cats peered out suspiciously. Any petrified food from long ago had been gnawed on till it was unrecognizable.
“Where’s the chair?” Hector inquired with great trepidation.
”Hits under that pile of garbage I ain’t had time to take out.” Adele murmured.
“Looks like a major undertaking to me.” Hector thought to himself. Indeed, about twenty black garbage bags bulged to the point of bursting, covered some kind of lounge chair. His heart sank, knowing he was going to be there long after sunset.
“Well, let’s get to it,” commanded Adele. So, she watched as Hector pulled bag after bag of garbage off the chair and carried it out to the road to be picked up in the morning. Several times, he had to stop and retrieve things that had busted out of the flimsy plastic bags. She sat on the couch and watched him, complaining that her back wouldn’t let her pick up anything larger than a can of soup.
Finally, the chair was revealed. It was an oversized lounge chair that folded back, but unfortunately would not unfold. This made it difficult to move. Hector tried sliding it, but it wouldn’t budge, due to the fact that it kept getting hung up on various impediments piled up in the room. He tried harder and harder, wanting this to get over with as soon as possible. Adele kept urging him to do this and that, which only slowed him down more.
At last, he had moved it to the doorway, where it got stuck once again. “How the heck did you get it in here?” he questioned.
“Them boys turned it sideways and hoisted it up over the door jam,” she answered flippantly, as if it were obvious.
“There ain’t but one of me.” Hector reminded her.
“Keep trying. You can do it!” insisted Adele in a huff.
After pushing, shoving, cussing, and panting, Hector finally got it out the door. Whereupon, he collapsed on the porch trying to catch his breath.
“Can you get it out there to the road?” Adele kept on. But Hector was exhausted, hungry, tired, and had had enough. “Well?” Adele pressed.
“How about if I come back tomorrow and finish the job?” Hector asked hopefully.
“Sounds good! That way you can help me move my bed to the other side of the house!” Adele added.
“See you tomorrow!” Hector lied as he lept off the porch and ran home in the dark.
