“Morning what? It’s still dark outside.”
“It’s winter in the mountains; the sun doesn’t come up until after eight.”
“I don’t get up until after eight, either. Now leave me the hell alone.”
The technician did leave me and went on her way gathering up the other suckers around the unit and getting them to whatever the hell morning group was. I couldn’t imagine that it was a very enjoyable situation since it was only seven o’clock. Certainly, they would have better luck if they waited until the sun actually came up.
I closed my eyes and tried my best to get back to sleep, but the commotion going on in the day room area was too much for me. It seemed that they had convinced everyone else on the unit to get up and they were all talking and joking like it was a normal occurrence to climb out of bed even before the sun managed to climb out of its own nightly hibernation.
All I wanted to do was shut a door and block out the noise so I could get some rest. Was it really that important that I had a room without any privacy? It seemed like I was paying an awful lot of money each day for a program that couldn’t even provide me with a door.
Slowly, I climbed out of bed and used the restroom. I decided to take a warm shower in the hopes that I would be able to relax a little and get back to sleep. After sleeping only three hours, I was exhausted. My body wasn’t use to having to fall asleep without a substance to induce relaxation, so I had spent most of the evening staring up at the ceiling and hoping my body would eventually get tired enough.
I turned the water on and let it run until it got warm. It certainly wasn’t hot, but at least it was warm and I could appreciate that for a short time period. After throwing my clothes onto the ground, I climbed into the shower and reached for the curtain to pull it across.
“Bloody hell!” I screamed as I realized there wasn’t even a curtain in the bathroom. “I can’t even have a tiny bit of privacy to shower?” I grumbled.
This place was quickly getting on my last nerve. I was paying more for this treatment facility than a five-star hotel. How on earth did they think no shower curtain and no door was a good idea? Sure, with the wall to the bathroom no one could technically see me, but all they had to do was take a few steps into my room and they would have a sausage show.
“Is everything all right in there, Mr. Levy?” I heard the technician ask from outside of the doorway.
There really was only about two feet of wall separating my naked body from her eyes. It seemed like a pretty bad idea to have a co-ed unit with no doors and no shower curtains. Anyone could just step into my room and get a peek at my Johnson. I couldn’t believe I was at this place, and my agitation was growing by the minute.
“I’m fine. Just suffering through the realization that I don’t have even a tiny bid of privacy.”
“Okay, I’ll be leaving soon, but I’ll have the day shift come check on you in a bit. Come out to the tables for breakfast at eight o’clock or you won’t get any.”
“Thanks, that’s nice.”
The sarcasm in my voice must not have been apparent because her chipper voice responded with, “You’re welcome.”
So, not only was I paying an exorbitant amount of money, but I had to wake up before the sun rose and would be refused food if I didn’t get up on time? This sounded more like a prison than a plush treatment facility.
For about five minutes, the water seemed warm. I washed my hair and body and then stood under the beating water as I tried to relax. But as my body became used to the water, it felt colder and colder and I had no choice but to climb out and try and get back to sleep. Not even my own shower would cooperate with me that morning.
There was one, small towel in my bathroom, and I assumed the size of the thing was also because they were trying to keep us all safe. It was soaked with water by the time I finished drying off. I certainly wasn’t dry enough to climb into my jeans and t-shirt yet, so I just stood there for a bit to air dry. There was no way to get to my dresser without fully exposing my ass to anyone who might be walking by, so I was lucky they were all engrossed in their morning meeting as I walked out of my bathroom and to my dresser.
The idea that I would actually spend fifty-nine more nights in the clutches of that facility was too much for me to even imagine. It felt like torture to be there, and I wasn’t the kind of guy who got off on being tortured. One week, that was all I could reasonably commit to. Spencer would just have to be all right with that, and so would the new movie studio.
I was actually looking forward to the idea of being part of a movie studio. I knew they just needed Spencer and me for the financing aspect that we could bring to it, but I really loved movies and couldn’t wait to be part of something in a field that I didn’t know much about.
Learning had always been something I enjoyed, whether it was in a classroom or while I was building my company. I suspected I’d have a lot of learning to do with such a huge change in occupations, but that was just fine with me.
My love of movies was deep and long. I could still remember the first movie I saw in the theaters. Star Wars. It had been a weekend date with my first girlfriend. I had saved up for weeks working at the mortuary for my father so I could have enough money to take her out. She let me hold her hand and I even got to kiss her goodnight when I walked her home.
Those were the days. Back then, people actually went on first dates. We actually didn’t expect anything more than a kiss when the date was over. And we didn’t worry if there wasn’t a text message or phone call from the person the very next day.
Things had changed a lot over the last ten years. It wasn’t just men who weren’t into the dating scene anymore, either. Most of the women I met wanted to keep things “casual,” they would tell me. That was their way of saying they weren’t interested in anything more than a fun night.
Of course, I was fine with that. I didn’t want to be tied down to a woman any more than they wanted to be tied down to me. But it was a lonely existence. Woman after woman each night of the week. None of them caring about me and me not caring about them. But it was what it was and there was no changing that.
I finally felt myself getting tired and drifting off to sleep. Thank God I’d be able to get a few more hours before I would have to drag myself out of bed and interact with all the drug addicts and alcoholics on the unit; I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.
“Breakfast time,” I heard a soft voice say from my doorway.
“No thanks.”
“Are you sure? We have strawberry crepes today, and I’m in charge of the whipped cream.”