Warm bath

``Story of a grown child'' by Kate Purr

Once upon a time,

a child looked to the sky.

She saw birds and clouds

and the infinite pool of light.

She asked why would it be

why should it have to be

as complicated as it seemed

for all those working bees?

She said no, not me!

That will never be!

I shall remain free!

And she worked to be free,

from all those must ``be''s

choosing her own priorities.

As I arrived home I was exhausted. Not that the day was that long or intellectually challenging, but the psychological outworn had consumed my strength. Also there is something interesting about the human body that when exposed to the sun experiences a straining serenity. I twisted the knob of the big white door and breathed deep before coming in. I suddenly heard... nothing... just a big silence... My parents were supposed to be home, and there was no reason for them not to be.

I went through the dark living room only guided by the silhouette of the furniture, drawn by the penetrating moon light. I passed the small corridor to the kitchen that seemed enlarged by suspense and quietude. I opened the kitchen door and nobody was in. The lights were on, and a small pan over the stove released this smooth warm smell that filled the whole room. I closed my eyes to better evaluate it; there was a sense of fresh fruits and wild flowers like a spring tea party in the Eden garden. I stepped forward towards the pan compelled by it. The stove was off, the pan was almost empty, and nobody was there to speak out for this mysterious fragrance.

-``MUM? DAD? WHEre is everybody?'' - There was no answer, so I went upstairs to search the rooms. I was no longer nervous, even if there was no one around; the evidence that somebody was in the kitchen not that long ago and was strangely inspired implicitly got me reassured. They must have ran out of chamomile perfume or apricot essence... I laughed at the sound of my thoughts. You would think I would be used to strange things by now. My mother thinks she can extract art from any task and my father, in his brute ways, actually nourishes her delusions.

I figured I would get to my room and start from there, since the chances of actually finding any living soul had gone from small to tiny, and this way I could leave my ``psychological'' heavy bag (I haven't been carrying any books since my last exams) instead of dragging around the weight of classes... of school... of teachers...

I entered this small room, large enough to fit my desk under the big window to the right, in the opposite side my three-door wardrobe, and in front my camel-pine bed and a small nightstand. I always though I could get more space if I would change the configuration of all the furniture. Instead of having the desk parallel to the bed under the window it would be against the front wall and the bed would have its back towards the window. Oh, that would make the bed parallel to the desk again, I guess you can't play much with a square room, although it was only square if you counted the wardrobe, still the wardrobe was too heavy to move. I would always give up on such troubles; the gain was way smaller than the effort and it would have to be the other way around to get me ``to do'', generally speaking.

I landed the bag on the floor near the desk. As an effect, I could hear my mother complaining in my mind.-'You shouldn't use the floor, it's not the cleanest place you know?'

-``Yes, mam!'' I thought to myself, and left it on the wooden chair that faced the desk. It's not like I am going to use the desk any time soon anyway. I threw myself onto the bed to contemplate the end of an extensive day, but I heard a paper-wrinkling sound and felt a hard square pressure on my back. I got up thinking of how messy I let the room get and I saw it wasn't mine. It wasn't actually my mess. Under a piece of paper was a small square paper package wrapped with white rope. My glory was stopped by the strange words on the paper:

-``Dear beloved, I wanted to give you something special for your last day of school, so I got you the name of your next school - Tacyturnos Noctis College. And before you ditch my words, I want to use the full extent of my authority in my last act as your tutor to get you to use my perfumed soap. You won't regret it, it is an old recipe your grandmother left behind and also your father helped. Don't wait up for us, we will be getting ourselves a late massage at the spa.'' - Oh great, I am the guinea pig now? They go to a spa for the first time in the family history and I get to try the homemade... No. The mum-made soap? And, which is worst, while there is no one here to get me to the hospital on time. Why would I?

Then the thrill of the last sentence started to build in,`` my last act as your tutor''. I didn't have to go to college, specially at night. Why would I want to go to that one anyway, I haven't even heard of it before. Do my parents think that little of my grades? It can work as a trade off, if I get very damaged by the soap I can refuse any further suggestions in the note my beloved mother wants to impose. OK, soap it is! How bad can it be anyway? I should know by now, after so many books and tv series, that you never ever ever make such a inquiry!

I wouldn't think much of it. A nice hot tub bath would be a great idea. I got the hot water running. Then I got back to my room to pick up my pajamas and all the necessary equipment. A bath contains a carefully thorough procedure, with the salts, the bubbles gel and all the never-ending mind-absorbing instruments of relaxation humans were able to come up with. I got the little package and got back to the bathroom. The house was so empty I got no contact with the world, no worries, and all my stress seemed to start breathing away with the smoothing steam of the bath.

I got out of my blue jeans and my dark blue top and slowly contemplated myself in the mirror as I got ready. I realized I have unimpressive boobs, my shoulders are as large as my hips, and my ass was getting gigantic yet flat. I got mad at myself for ruining such a perfect mood looking at my body, so I placed my glasses on the top of the cloths pile and got one foot in the tub. The water was baking hot, it took a while for my toes, foot and then ankle to adapt to the temperature. I then convinced the other foot to join in and slowly grabbing the tub sides I started sinking my small curvy legs. I sighed at the conquest of the waist down all under water and allowed my skin to adapt. The heat was propagating through out my body and I started to recline until all of me from the neck down was covered in water and hidden in bubbles. I closed my eyes to savor the moment, the salt slightly effervescent massaging my back, my legs light under the dense water, the bubbles continuously bursting quietly on top of my skin and what felt like fervent water maintaining my temperature as my body slowly succumb. I was in heaven for a while and that never lasts. The water started to thermalize and I realized it was time to try the soap. I opened the package with weeping fingers and suddenly the soft peach shampoo and the ginseng salts aroma was demised over the same delicious fragrance I smelled down stairs which rapidly filled the entire room. It can't be that bad if it smells this good. I pulled a leg from under water and the pleasant humid air seemed to crack my skin, releasing all the heat stored within. I folded my knee, reached my foot, and started soaping. It was a tender sensation and I was grateful that my mother would have promoted these moments.

After a long-lasting bath, I was hungrily floating through the kitchen. I opened the fridge and found a message saying ``eat me!'' on a big red steak. Down the rabbit whole, are we? I got it out of the fridge and into the pan to grill. How did my mother read my mind when I hadn't made it up yet? I made a simple white rice to accompany the steak, but all I could think off was that red meet crisping on the stove and the aroma coming from it. The sound of the steak juices surfacing sporadically and falling around it to the hot pan, evaporating into pure aroma. I got the first taste of it and realized how juicy a steak can be, how that simple tender meet with nothing but salt and garlic could make such a pleasant meal. I hadn't savored such a piece of meet in a while and was feeling even stronger for it. I knew it could only be my imagination, but that steak melted on my teeth like butter on a pancake and released every inch of moist it had on my tongue. I could picture the cow feeding carelessly in the green infinite meadow. I could smell the wet grass and taste the careless joy... I was sorry in the name of all the vegetarians but I couldn't feel guilty for it. God, this day had really turned around. Who would have reckon I would be so satisfied by ten in the evening?

As I went up to my room I started to feel funny. My head felt like it was going to explode, I could feel pressure all over my jaw and on my forehead. My skin burned as if it was pealing out. All my bones seemed to press against my flesh and I could not control myself anymore, in all this agony I panicked and started running up to my room, tumbling on my own feet until that welcoming reassuring room. I was delusional, nothing in my room would save me! I could only think this had to be the effect of that dam soap my mother made. I ran faster tripping over the stair steps and finally got to my room.

Strangely I felt slightly better as I entered, relieved from all this torture. I supposed the worst was far gone and I just had to reach the phone and call my father to drive me to the emergencies room now. I didn't even dare looking myself in the mirror. If it felt like that, it couldn't look pretty and I was spooked enough as it was. I sat on my bed and reached the phone on the nightstand and I couldn't believe my eyes. The lights were off and only the street lamp lights entered sneaky through the window, but even through that half light I saw the hairiest crawling creature over the phone. I jumped back, but when I looked down the creature was on my bed, just near my body, and as I impulsively used my hands to defend my face the hairy creature jumped before them. I leaped out of my bed to reach for the lights and as I did I was unintentionally facing the mirror on my wardrobe door. My fright succumbed my driving motion before I turned on the light. I couldn't believe it but I looked like a puffy bear. The hairy creature wasn't following or attaching me, my mother's soap was. I was totally disfigured and unrecognizable under a heavy coat of fur.

-``WHAT THE HELL?'' - I looked as if I was in a horror movie. I lifted my pajamas shirt to check my stomach and realize that I was covered in this bushy hair.

I blinked trying to clear my sight, I shook my head to lift this dreamy imagination. I had to be half asleep, but nothing would work. Whatever my mother had put in this soap, the smell wasn't for sure worth the skin condition. I came closer to the mirror, shocked by my figure, and realized it wasn't only my skin that had changed. My jaw was reaching forward like an animal and my ears were bent, folded with skin pending from their regular site. What can have happened to me? The only thing keeping me from losing it was the fact that the pain was gone. I got back to the telephone, without knowing how to better inform my parents. I needed them quickly, but I didn't want drama, not on top of this!

The phone rang, after I clumsily managed to press the numbers with my newly inflated fingers, in what felt like infinite time, and then it stopped.

-``Yes, dear?'' - my father asked in his most controlled voice. I had heard this voice before, he uses it to confront my mother in an argument.

-``Dad, something is wrong!''

-``No dear, nothing is wrong.'' - he kept his synthetically calm voice.

-``No, you're not listening! Something is wrong with me!''

-``No dear, you are perfectly well, believe me.''