Rivers In The Desert

NEW YEAR, NEW STATE, NEW LIFE

I arrived in Fort Worth, around 8:00 pm on New Year's Eve. The trip from Phoenix is a 15-hour drive, but it took me longer because I stopped and got a motel. I can't do all that driving across the country non-stop anymore like I used to. I'll leave that up to the young folks.
I would have flown and had my car sent to Texas until I was quoted $900 for the transport. So, I figured I would just drive instead. That would wipe out most of the money I saved for the move, which wasn't much.
Mitchell came out of the house as I was pulling up in the driveway.
“Aye, you finally made it,” he said.
“Yes, that was a long ride,” I said while getting out of the car. “Man, y’all got toll roads!”
“Yeah!” he chuckled.
“I got to stay away from those,” I said.
My car was packed full of my things, of what I could get into the car. I opened the liftgate to my car to start carrying things in the house, but Mitchell told me to go on in the house and he'll bring all my things in. I was grateful because I was too tired to carry anything in at that point anyway.
As I walked in the front door, I smelled fried chicken. I walked past the living room and entered the kitchen where Tracy was preparing dinner. That was right on time because I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since I left Odessa, TX to fuel up. Tracy looked up from the stove and said. “Hey you made it!” And then gave me a big hug.
“Girl yes!” I said. “That drive from Phoenix ain’t no joke. I couldn't drive 15 hours straight, so I got a motel.”
I tried to get to Fort Worth before the sun dropped out of the sky because my night vision for driving is terrible now. The glare on the oncoming headlights makes it worse.
“Dinner will be ready in a minute,” she said.
As I followed her from the kitchen through the living room to the spare bedroom, I noticed that this was an older house built sometime in the 1950s. Mitchell is still bringing in my things and leaving them up against the wall in the hallway. Then I noticed there is not much space in the room because they didn't make any space for me. She told me that it was an old house, so there is no extra closet space.
“Sorry I didn't make any room in the drawers. I didn't have anywhere else to put my nephew's clothes. I mean, he's only 6,” she said. She had a nephew that would come over and spend the night sometimes.
I'm looking around the room wondering how in the world was I going to organize my things and get comfortable. This was like a bedroom and sort of a storage room. Along with a bed dresser that I can't use and an old printer table. There were boxes full of clothes and junk. Also, there were several blankets stacked on top.
Tracy must have noticed the puzzled look on my face. She stated that they have had so many friends and relatives to stay with them over the years during their marriage that they haven't had time just for themselves. So therefore, if she doesn't make much room, then maybe people won't stay so long. I told her my plan was to get a job and my own apartment within a month, but she just looked at me and gave me no response.
Tracy headed back toward the kitchen to finish dinner. I felt like she thought I came to Texas
to freeload off her and Mitchell. I proceeded to line all my boxes up against the wall by the door,
making it a narrow path to walk into the room. I was only able to hang up a little bit of my clothes because there were already other clothes in the closet. This was how it was going to be until I got my own place.
“You ready to eat?” I heard Tracy call in from the kitchen. I went to the kitchen and sat down for dinner. She had fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
Tracy made Mitchell a plate, but instead of eating with us, he grabbed his plate and headed toward the bedroom to eat. I wasn't sure what to think of that. Maybe he was Giving us time to catch up.
Tracy and I caught up during dinner and she did not mention why Mitchell decided to eat in the bedroom. She mentioned that they had just bought a German shepherd puppy that they keep outside in the gate on the side of the house. Later on, Mitchell had come back to the kitchen to say that he was heading out for a while and will be back later.
“Well, I have been up all day and I'm going to bed. Make yourself at home and I'll see you in the morning. Not really big on the New Year's Eve thing. It's just another year and another day to me,” she said.
I went and sat in the family room to try to watch some TV, but after that long drive I was just too tired to focus. So, I went and took a shower and then just stayed in my room for the rest of the night and though about my new living situation.
I didn’t want to move to Texas. I was living my life in Arizona and was making plans to buy my third house but, God had other plans for my life. It’s not that I was so in love with Arizona, but I had settled in my mind that this was where I was going to live for the rest of my life.