now
freshly painted white along with the bed, desk and chair. (Grandpa
and I had fun repainting them together.) One lone purple stripe ran
horizontally, at the top of the wall, around the room. The carpet
was clean and washed along with the armoire. Grandpa said we should
strip the armoire of paint and stain it instead of re-painting it.
He said it would make it look nicer in my room, more antique. The
bedding was now purple and made with a much higher thread count.
The brown comforter had purple and pink flowers running in vertical
stripes. A new gray steel light fixture hung from the ceiling,
giving the room a modern feel. It added warmth to the room, and I
loved it.
Grandpa granted me permission to redecorate
the room and I tackled it with enthusiasm. It helped pass the weeks
and I spent some quality time with my grandfather. We drove to a
nearby town to find the things I wanted because Lee certainly
didn’t have a store with the latest fashions. He taught me how to
paint, bait and fish, row a boat and mow the grass with an
industrial mower. He even taught me a lot about the country, for
instance, everything was fried here, even the tomatoes, and bacon
is served at every meal. And bacon grease is collected in order to
add flavor to the next meal. I soon became a fan of chicken fried
steaks after Grandpa made them one night.
Regardless of the scary incidents, I was
starting to have a good vacation. I thought I might feel depressed
from missing home, my friends and Jeff, but I wasn’t. In fact, I
felt more independent and in control of my life than before. I
didn’t need Jeff or any of my friends to make it here; they would
all be home when I returned. I began a new phase of living in Lee,
acceptance. Katie was a big part of that acceptance.
Katie Kramer was beginning to become my new
best friend. We had a lot in common. We loved the same music,
movies and books. At first, we spent a lot of time at my house,
just talking. We learned a lot about each other that summer. When
dad would go psycho, which was often, I would call Katie and we
would escape to the back roads together.
Katie’s mother, Marilyn was a single
mother and worked at the local insurance agency as a secretary.
Being an only child, Katie was the center of her mother’s world. I
got the feeling that her mother depended on Katie, and I
mean really depended on her.
Katie did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, repaired the house, and
paid the bills. They lived in a small house in town off Chambers
Street. It was close to the High School and she liked living in a
small town.
I found a lot of new friends while in Lee.
Katie was sweet and wanted me to feel accepted while I was here so
she introduced me to a lot of the local kids. She invited me to
Bastrop Lake to go camping and waterskiing with her mom. We went to
the movies and did some shopping in Brenham. A lot of people had
pasture parties and we would often go with Nat and Becky. The four
of us would pile into Katie’s tiny car and try to find a needle in
a haystack. I was spending less and less time alone. It was getting
to be the best of times for me here.
One day that summer I was sitting in the back
of the beat up pickup watching Billy, Rodney, and Joey challenging
each other in the lake. The boys wanted to play chicken with Katie
and Becky on their shoulders.
Steven was laughing at them while eating an
apple. His brown hair was blowing easy in the breeze. He seemed so
relaxed, sitting with one knee up and his back against the tree,
his right hand dangling carelessly from his knee as he ate the red
apple. The day was hot and bright, and the sun played behind the
clouds teasingly as everyone swam in Frank Color’s tank.
Usually, I avoided Steven and looking at him.
I was too tempted by the thought of him that the sight of him drove
me pleasantly crazy. My relationship with Jeff these days was
pretty much nonexistent. I was tempted to break up with Jeff, very
tempted.
These days, I avoided my
freshly painted white along with the bed, desk and chair. (Grandpa
and I had fun repainting them together.) One lone purple stripe ran
horizontally, at the top of the wall, around the room. The carpet
was clean and washed along with the armoire. Grandpa said we should
strip the armoire of paint and stain it instead of re-painting it.
He said it would make it look nicer in my room, more antique. The
bedding was now purple and made with a much higher thread count.
The brown comforter had purple and pink flowers running in vertical
stripes. A new gray steel light fixture hung from the ceiling,
giving the room a modern feel. It added warmth to the room, and I
loved it.
Grandpa granted me permission to redecorate
the room and I tackled it with enthusiasm. It helped pass the weeks
and I spent some quality time with my grandfather. We drove to a
nearby town to find the things I wanted because Lee certainly
didn’t have a store with the latest fashions. He taught me how to
paint, bait and fish, row a boat and mow the grass with an
industrial mower. He even taught me a lot about the country, for
instance, everything was fried here, even the tomatoes, and bacon
is served at every meal. And bacon grease is collected in order to
add flavor to the next meal. I soon became a fan of chicken fried
steaks after Grandpa made them one night.
Regardless of the scary incidents, I was
starting to have a good vacation. I thought I might feel depressed
from missing home, my friends and Jeff, but I wasn’t. In fact, I
felt more independent and in control of my life than before. I
didn’t need Jeff or any of my friends to make it here; they would
all be home when I returned. I began a new phase of living in Lee,
acceptance. Katie was a big part of that acceptance.
Katie Kramer was beginning to become my new
best friend. We had a lot in common. We loved the same music,
movies and books. At first, we spent a lot of time at my house,
just talking. We learned a lot about each other that summer. When
dad would go psycho, which was often, I would call Katie and we
would escape to the back roads together.
Katie’s mother, Marilyn was a single
mother and worked at the local insurance agency as a secretary.
Being an only child, Katie was the center of her mother’s world. I
got the feeling that her mother depended on Katie, and I
mean really depended on her.
Katie did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, repaired the house, and
paid the bills. They lived in a small house in town off Chambers
Street. It was close to the High School and she liked living in a
small town.
I found a lot of new friends while in Lee.
Katie was sweet and wanted me to feel accepted while I was here so
she introduced me to a lot of the local kids. She invited me to
Bastrop Lake to go camping and waterskiing with her mom. We went to
the movies and did some shopping in Brenham. A lot of people had
pasture parties and we would often go with Nat and Becky. The four
of us would pile into Katie’s tiny car and try to find a needle in
a haystack. I was spending less and less time alone. It was getting
to be the best of times for me here.
One day that summer I was sitting in the back
of the beat up pickup watching Billy, Rodney, and Joey challenging
each other in the lake. The boys wanted to play chicken with Katie
and Becky on their shoulders.
Steven was laughing at them while eating an
apple. His brown hair was blowing easy in the breeze. He seemed so
relaxed, sitting with one knee up and his back against the tree,
his right hand dangling carelessly from his knee as he ate the red
apple. The day was hot and bright, and the sun played behind the
clouds teasingly as everyone swam in Frank Color’s tank.
Usually, I avoided Steven and looking at him.
I was too tempted by the thought of him that the sight of him drove
me pleasantly crazy. My relationship with Jeff these days was
pretty much nonexistent. I was tempted to break up with Jeff, very
tempted.
These days, I avoided my
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