It's My Life - Melody Carlson [7]
Okay, no more time for ranting. Right now I need to pack. We're leaving right after I finish work tomorrow, and the forecast is for hot, hot, hot. Ahh, to take a dip in a cool, mountain lake. Look out, fun times ahead!!!
THREE
Sunday, July 22 (not what I expected)
Man, am I glad to be home. Not that I didn't have fun. Well, mostly, anyway. But Andrea's dad isn't the most mature adult I've ever met. And his girlfriend is a real piece of work too. In a way they both remind me of a couple of high school kids who haven't grown up yet. Maybe they never will. I felt pretty bad for Andrea a couple times. But I assured her I didn't hold her responsible for their behavior.
Just the same we stuck it out. I know I probably should've come home sooner. But I honestly didn't feel like I was in any real danger. And I just couldn't bear to hear my parents say “I told you so,” which I know they'd think even if they didn't say the actual words. Someday I'll tell them they were partially right. Just not yet.
Well, Andrea's dad, or Bobby, as he insisted I call him, has a pretty nice place at the lake, even if it was a total mess. And Jeanie (his girlfriend who looks just like a middle–aged cocktail waitress, which she is by the way) doesn't lift a finger to help out. So to start with, Andrea and I spent our first evening there cleaning house and doing laundry so we could have clean sheets, then we made a run to the nearby camp store where I paid $76.83 for two small bags of groceries!!! Then we proceeded to cook dinner for everyone. All the while, Bobby and Jeanie were just hanging around like a couple of overgrown kids, and never once offered to help. Too weird.
I thought maybe things would change by the next day. I mean, which ones were supposed to be the guests here? But nothing changed. Andrea and I fixed breakfast and cleaned up again. Then Andrea talked Bobby into dragging us around the lake in the ski boat, but by noon he'd consumed so much beer that we decided we'd be safer to get him and the boat to dockside. Then we took out the canoe by ourselves (which was really pretty fun). But when we returned by midafternoon, Jeanie's younger sister and her boyfriend had just shown up. But did they offer to help or bring any food or anything? (Yeah, sure, you bet.) Nope, they were just a couple of freeloaders. Well, Andrea and I were getting kind of ticked by then. So we got ourselves all cleaned up, then sneaked out the back door, got in my car, and drove to the nearby town for pizza.
Now that was fun! A couple of local boys began flirting with us, and at first we tried to ignore them, but then, being all inspired by our maturity, we decided we'd use this opportunity to tell them about Jesus (thinking that would either send the guys packing or perhaps do the Kingdom some good!). And can you believe it? They listened –eagerly. We told them all about how our dear friend, Clay Berringer, had been shot last spring (and of course, they'd read about it in the papers), and we told them about the impact this whole thing had had on us. And they were sincerely interested. And when we finally left, they thanked us for telling them all that stuff. Unbelievable! Andrea and I were on such a complete high as I drove us back to her dad's cabin.
But it evaporated as soon as we got back, because when we walked in the front door, the place just reeked with pot smoke. That's when Andrea went totally ballistic. She just tore into her dad and his friends, telling them how irresponsible they all were and how she was completely sick of them. Then we went into our room and locked the door. It's not that we were afraid. Good grief, the four of them were so spaced out that her words probably went right over their dopey heads. But I guess we just wanted to separate ourselves from them. After that, we sat down on the bed and Andrea just burst into tears. She felt so humiliated by her dad's behavior.