The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

Okay, as I have been staying here nearly two weeks now, I should probably mention some things about my housemates (I guess you'd call Carma and Joey that). Of course, you all have read about Joey before. He was the kid I tutored last school year. Now I am not only his tutor, but his caretaker and friend as well. I get him off the school bus in the afternoons so Carma can sleep some more, and then we do his homework. And if there's time between then and when he goes to his Aunt's for the night (because Carma had already paid the Aunt to keep him at night during the rest of the school year), then we play. Other than those couple of hours during the school week, the only time I get to see him is Saturday evenings and Sundays. He really is a neat kid. However, ever since Pop died, he's been a bit morbid. Always wanting to play games in which he can kill himself (Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Mario Bros. U, etc.) The first day he was here with me, he showed me a bunch of Pop's things. And Carma gives him whatever he wants, and he cries if he doesn't get it right away.

Carma is a truck driver who works nights. She drives all the way to Cincinnati five days each week. She was glad to have me stay with her, because it meant someone would be here at night. And ever since my brother's girlfriend did some things to Carma, she has been afraid to leave the house empty at night. Then during the day, she sleeps. And because of her crazy schedule, she doesn't cook; and this affects Joey's eating habits as well. The two of them don't eat beef, except for on tacos. They don't eat tomatoes or onions, or really any healthy fruits or vegetables. And they don't drink milk, and not because of a lactose issue.

Now that's stuff I can deal with. What really bugs me though is that Carma throws trash out of her car windows. The area I live in is really nice looking; big fields, wooded areas, and lots of woodland creatures. But the sides of the roads are covered in Diet Coke cans, drinking straw wrappers, and other litter. When we were going shopping, she would put her window down while going down the highway and throw cans or trash out of it. I felt embarrassed to be in the same car, and ashamed because I was too timid to say anything about it. And each evening when I come back from checking on the animals, I find more and more soda cans and other trash on the road.

There are other things that kind of bug me, but nowhere near as much as the littering. And I am not sure it is right for me to say anything about it at all. They've taken me in when my own family threw me out. They've already done so much for me, so it feels weird wanting to call them out on something like that. I mean, I am living here for free and have no bills to pay. I don't pay for food, and can do whatever I want. All I have been asked to do is help take care of Joey and make sure no one tried to break in the house.

Moving on...

This week's route was so rainy! And on top of that, the papers were three hours late arriving. I arrived at 4 (when the papers were supposed to be there) and so I waited until 7am to actually work. I am glad I brought my PSP with me, because I was bored. I even slept for one hour on the shelf I fold the newspapers. It was very comfortable (seriously). I just propped my head on some of the leftover inserts and slept.

Another thing I did today was bring extra clothes with me. I knew it would rain a lot today, so I wanted to be prepared. But it was raining so hard today that I had to conserve my extra shirt. I rode to Peebles wearing only my jacket. It felt really weird. And my jean shorts were so wet, they felt like they weighed a ton. And then they kept trying to fall down. I was all the time trying to keep them at my waist. But in the end, I finished the route and was fully clothed while doing it.

I stopped at the storage unit to get one of my PS2s and my Square Enix games. I want to start an article series about characters, and so I need the games as reference material. It was difficult moving everything out of the way to get to where I put the games, but I managed to do it quickly. I guess someone saw me, and called Mom asking what I was doing. Mom asked me later today about it.

Well, tomorrow I am riding to Sinking Spring to deliver papers. It's weird, because it doesn't feel like a week has gone by. But it has. And that's about it for this entry. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...

Later!

Michael