Chapter 55

Since I woke up at 10AM, after only five hours sleep, I felt like crap during my morning run. I really was exhausted when I got back to the room. I found that the maid had left a half dozen towels and wash cloths on the bed for me. I assumed they were for the new apartment.

I had done my research on line. I found that a Twin mattress was 38" wide. That was entirely too wide for a sofa seat in my opinion. So I decided I would make my own mattress. I had slept in a lot worse things than anything I could build. I had slept on small pads on the ground and narrow bunks in the government housing units in the military. It made me sleep in one spot without a lot of twist and turns.

I knew there had to be a place that would cut me a piece of foam, so I went to a small fabric shop first. They had two foot wide pieces of foam in rolls. Getting a 4" thick piece cut 6ft long was no problem. I could even get it rolled and into the trunk of the Toyota. Since I had the whole back seat as well as the passenger seat to fill, I went from the fabric shop in Dobson to the Walmart in Dobson.

In the parking lot I looked at my list and tried to decide which things I could find in a yard sale. I removed all the furniture items from the list as well as the dishes. I did leave the flatware on the list. Pots and pan remained, as did sheets and blankets.

Once I started shopping I saw pillows cheap. I bought them on the spot along with two flat sheets and pillow cases. I figured I could alway lay the pad on the floor for now. I had slept on a damn site worse things. Then I headed to kitchen supplies, but on the way I passed the rubber maid storage boxes. They had one they guaranteed you could stand on. It was 24" long and 12" wide across the top. The bottom was only 8" wide. The whole thing was 16" deep.six of them would be perfect, almost. I could get them in the Toyota trunk but they would cost me almost a hundred bucks. I decided to come back another day, if there was nothing like them at the yard sale.

In the kitchen area I bought my flatware and my pots and pans. The most expensive thing I bought, was the cheapest microwave and TV they had for a little over a hundred bucks each. After I checked out my 'screw for appliances' money was over half gone, that included the Lamar movie money. The next days yard sale needed to be cheap.

I had less than two grand in the bank from my salary. I hadn't spent much of my salary, over the eight months so I still had that. I wanted to keep it for car expenses, since the Toyota had been used when I bought it. Unlike the Motel the distance from the Victorian house to the station was a little farther than a comfortable walk, so I needed a car.

I got back home after a skipped lunch, so I had a cup of old coffee and a pack of crackers to make up for the missed meal. It was only a few hours till dinner anyway.

I spent the time working on my computer researching the price things. I was freaking over the price of the small things I would need. I hadn't even thought to buy a shower curtain, it was things like that, which were going to eat up the money. Then I remembered, I hadn't seen a shower in the tub. The tub was free standing in the middle of the bathroom. The pipes were exposed and I just couldn't remember seeing a shower. That didn't mean there wasn't a shower, just that I didn't remember seeing one ... Why hadn't i thought to check it out. Since it wasn't too late, I decided to drive over to the apartment and drop off the items I had bought and check the shower.

The stairs where tricky as hell to maneuver in the dark. Especially carrying a load that made seeing hard. When I finally got inside, I dropped the foam pad and went to the bathroom. I had a great pedestal sink a classic toilet and a free standing claw foot tub with no shower.

"Son of a bitch," I said aloud. I walked out of the bathroom shaking my head. I went into the kitchen to drop off the microwave. Then I realized I didn't even know it the microwave would work in the hundred plus year old wiring, The fuse box had been upgraded to circuit breakers, so maybe it would work.

I wanted to check the floor furnace outside the bathroom before I left. It came on a couple of minutes after I demanded heat, so that was a good sign, I left the thermostat set at sixty to keep the pipes from freezing. Which reminded me to check the pipes. Everything worked including the hot water, so it was time to get out before I got any more disappoints.

On the way back to the motel I racked my brain trying to figure how I would manage to wash my hair that had grown out about a half inch since the head shaving incident. I came up empty on my own, so I decided to check it out on the Internet. A search revealed there was a rubber hose that fit on the faucet. It had a spray head on it, similar to a shower head. The whole thing just slipped on and off the faucet. It was cheap, it was Ideal. To make the hose reach, I would need to be seating in the tub. I could get the best of a soak and a shower, so it seemed ideal to me. A man might not like it, but I loved the idea. I ordered one on line immediately. I gave my new address for delivery. That was my first change of address notification.

I went to bed shortly after I ordered the hand held shower attachment. I fell asleep thinking about how to make a short shower curtain to fit inside the claw foot tub. I fell asleep without coming up with an answer.