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Chapter 4
It was Saturday and Sam really had nothing to do. The girls were at their grandmas for the weekend, since she had the bigger house, all the video games, and not to mention cable TV, which Sam refused to get since the girls were hardly there and her mom lived less than one minute away. Sam showered and began to get dressed. She opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. Her contact lens case sat covered with a small layer of dust. Sam rinsed the top of the case with solution before opening it. Desperate times called for desperate measures. It’s not that she minded wearing contacts, but early in the morning she couldn’t open her eyes wide enough to get them in. Not to mention the fact that her light green eyes also attracted unwanted attention from men which made her uncomfortable. For some strange reason no one noticed her eyes when she wore glasses. She put the lenses into her eyes and blinked as she saw the day clearly for the first time. Sam closed the medicine cabinet door and almost screamed at her reflection. She had sallow skin that hadn’t been tanned in years, dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, and hair that was beyond hope, “Yikes!”
All of a sudden Sam felt adventurous. She packed a towel and dug through clothes until she finally found a matching top and bottom to a bikini. Well, they didn’t actually match but there was blue in the pattern of the bikini top and the bottoms were blue, close enough. I live in Miami after all. I should be able to go to the beach. Sam grabbed a book she’d been meaning to read, closed the dog in the kitchen with the pet gate, and jumped into her Corolla. As she drove to a quiet beach, Sam decided to give her younger brother Barry a call. He was a huge Bears fan and she wanted to invite him to the football game. After the third ring her brother answered his phone,
“Hey sis. What’s up?”
“I have something that will put a smile on your face.”
“I doubt it. I’ve been swamped with work. I’m actually at work now.”
“I’m sorry; do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Hell no, The Bears game will be on TV.”
“Too bad you won’t be watching it on TV.”
“Uh, hello, why the hell wouldn’t I?”
“Because I have four tickets to the game.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nope, my neighbor just gave them to me.”
“Awesome! I can’t wait to tell Janet and Dylan they’ll be thrilled. Thanks Sam. You’re the best.”
Sam frowned. Once again things had not gone the way she had hoped. Sam thought the football game would be a great opportunity to spend some time with her brother. She had forgotten about Janet and Dylan, her brother’s girlfriend and her son.
“Hey are you going to come with us? You said you have four tickets and there are only three of us.” Barry continued interrupting her thoughts.
“Sure, why not. Men in tight pants who would miss that.” Sam responded trying to hide the disappointment in her tone. Minutes after saying good-bye to her brother, Sam arrived at a quiet beach and parked her car.
She searched through the trunk of her car and found an old pair of sunglasses and some expired suntan oil. Why does suntan oil expire anyway? Oh well. She stepped onto the beach and found a small corner that would suit her sunbathing needs. The sun’s rays warmed her body and the sound of the waves relaxed her. She started face down on her belly because it was a more comfortable position to read. Then she turned over on her back but found holding the book up annoying and defeating the purpose since the shadow from the book covered her face. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze gently caressing her body.
***
Once again Sam found herself staring at her reflection in the mirror. Well, it’s definitely different. Her skin now bore a bright red glow except around her eyes where the sunglasses had been. There, she was still ghostly pale. A two-hour nap on the beach was to blame. At least in a week, after it peels off, I’ll have a tan, she thought, trying to look on the bright side. She reached into the medicine cabinet and began spreading Aloe Vera lotion over her body. It simply hurt to move. Once she finished she waddled out of the bathroom trying desperately to keep her thighs from touching. She was teetering around in her bikini not being able to put on any article of clothing. Alcohol sounds good right about now. Sam made her way into the kitchen where she took a bottle of coconut rum off the top of the refrigerator then she opened the refrigerator door. Cool air blasted her and she stood there enjoying the temporary reprieve from her burning flesh. Eventually she pulled out some orange juice and set it on the counter. She poured a shot of coconut rum into a small glass of orange juice. After replacing all the items back into the refrigerator, she made her way into the living room. There she gently eased herself onto the soft leather couch being careful not to let any part of her body touch the leather in fear she might stick. She used a chenille blanket to form the barrier between her skin and the leather. Spot licked the bottom of her feet as she kicked them up onto the coffee table. The words another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody filled her head as she sipped her drink.
Chapter 5
Sam picked up the remote but just stared at the TV screen. Who am I kidding? Without cable there’s no real reception. She turned on the TV anyway and after flipping through the three barely visible channels, she turned it off again. Maybe I should read a book. Sam picked up the nearest book and flipped through the pages. She bought this book two weeks ago and her favorite author wrote it, but she couldn’t get past the first chapter. Her love for horror and suspense novels had dwindled lately. Partly because it made her too jumpy at night and she would get up three or four times to check the alarm system, but also because they had just stopped appealing to her. The news seemed like enough of a horror story to keep her from sleeping every night. She had taken up reading the Bible lately, and found that it was quite the soap opera. Men married several women and begot children with concubines! Interesting. After a while though she found that she was reading only her favorite parts and had given up on reading it, all the way through, like she would a novel. Several times, she had taken her children’s books and read them. She could get into some of those series, but it rarely took her more than a day to finish. She swirled her drink in her right hand. I should of added ice. Oh well, I’m not getting up now. The apartment began to grow dim as the sun set. Sam picked up the remote again. Oh yeah, the DVD I rented last week is still in the player. I really should return that. She switched on the TV then used her toes to slide the DVD remote to where she could reach it without moving too much. I love this movie she thought as the screen filled with the chiseled chest of Jake Jameson before the camera slowly backed away. His smiling dimpled face was caught in several angles as he ran along the beach then plunged into the water. It was a ridiculous movie really, with a shallow plot and a fairy tale ending. The dialogue was entertaining because of how he delivered the lines. It was hard to tell if the movie should be viewed seriously, or was a cheap shot at many of the other romantic comedies. Sam preferred to believe it was a cynical look at Hollywood love stories. There could have been no dialogue at all and Sam would have still watched it just to see Jake Jameson. He had a perfect smile and sparkling eyes accentuated by laugh lines. His jovial spirit was conveyed in every part that he played. Sam once saw him in an action movie and she had the same feeling of, is this for real, as she watched him fight an army of bad guys, smiling the entire time and delivering punch lines that were so dry they were funny. This particular movie threw in shots of him running along the beach, even though it had absolutely nothing to do with the story line.
Sam sank back into the couch. She was now lost in the plot as a solemnly clad Jake accidentally bumped into a sex
