A Breath Until Forever (14 page)

But Joshua wasn't any nearer to giving up. “I hate the camera.” Said Joshua. “And I let you take mine. Come on, it's only fair.”

“Okay then.” Meredith finally gave in.

Meredith walked out in front of the tall oak tree. The sunlight behind tree cut in two direction, rays of its sunshine slicing out in a raving aura.

Joshua stepped back a foot, but as he did, he began to direct Meredith and her position. He wanted to have her just right, just so, so that the picture he was about to take, would be as perfect and turn out so beautiful as she was. “Over there, move over a little.” Joshua directed, as if he were a professional.

“Okay.” Meredith followed Joshua's lead, and submitted to Joshua's orders.

With one hand on the camera, the other hand motioned Meredith over a few more inches to her right, along the same place the light of the sun was pitching its most brightest and brilliant karma. “Just a bit further...” Joshua commanded.

When Meredith had settled into the most perfect spot, Joshua smiled. He was happy that she was now in position where he thought would make for the most perfect picture. “Okay, here we go.” He said. 

“Smile!” Said Joshua.

Meredith smiled, but with no teeth, allowing thin lines of her mouth to arch up to brighten her honey colored eyes. Two soft dimples appeared in her happy cheeks.

Snap! Like that, the Polaroid camera was put into action, and instant film discharged from out of the odd black box. 

Meredith ran over quickly, excited to see what had developed. Meredith took the film and began to quickly shake it about, flickering her wrist, jerking the film in sporadic frenzy, waiting impatiently as the film developed.

Joshua looked at it the same time that Meredith did. 

“Your so pretty.” Joshua complimented.

Meredith blushed.

It was a good picture. Meredith's smile lit up brighter than the sun that hugged the tree behind her. Small little fine lines had highlighted her caramel eyes. Her long hair had blown slightly in a fracture of a segmented wind. But most importantly, there was a degree of joy that radiated from her that made her look happy.

“Give me that camera.” Meredith went to grab for it, and Joshua released it from his grip. “Now, it's our turn together.” Meredith took the camera and held it out, extending out both of her arms, and cradling the camera in her hands. “Come here, get a little closer to me.” When Joshua hesitated for a moment, Meredith drew him in. “Don't be shy now.”

Joshua came closer to Meredith, as close as he could get without kissing her or touching her provocatively, and then they both smiled. Upon the completion of the smiles, Meredith snapped their picture. Instant film spit out. Meredith flicked the film like once before. Upon a few minutes, the film came to life. There Joshua and Meredith were, in the North Carolina sun, within the meadows and streams of Thunder Valley, two people from two different lands, coming together as one for a Kodak camera instant picture. Life was wonderful! Both Joshua and Meredith adored this picture, and couldn't stop looking at it. Even though there was over a decade between them, they looked like a couple, and they looked like they belonged to each other. It was the best picture that Joshua had ever taken of himself, and the best picture that Meredith had ever taken of herself, and even though they were dressed down, wearing casual clothes, and there was no special photography tricks, or any props except those of nature, Meredith looked her most beautiful, and Joshua looked the most handsome in his life, which made this small boxy picture, as perfect as a picture could ever possibly be.

Meredith put the pictures back into her backpack, keeping them as keepsakes.

“Where do you want to go now?” Asked Joshua, wondering where their next journey may take them.

“I'm finished here, will finish up the rest at the motel. Think I’ll stop by there now, and get all cleaned up, get all prettied up, and before coming over, if that's okay by you. That will give you enough time to get things ready.

“Sure, if you want, but you can do all that stuff here. Besides you really don’t need to get yourself all prettied up, your pretty enough as it is.”

Meredith thought he was so sweet, and privately blushed.

“I just feel gross. You know, just all sweaty.” Meredith touched herself lightly as if bugs were crawling all over her body. Meredith would give herself a sponge bath every now and then while traveling on the road, getting at her armpits most especially, where she was the most sweatiest.

“Why bother going back? The motel is in the opposite direction from here, and besides, I have towels and wash cloths, just like the motel does, and running water.” Joshua didn't seem the sense out of it.

“Okay, that is, if you don't mind. I don't want to be any inconvenience for you, or anything.” Meredith said. She hated to intrude, especially with someone she really didn't know. Although Meredith had known Joshua for a short while, she didn't really know him, and still felt rather uncomfortable in going into his house to do something more like a well known guest would.

“Hope you don't mind well water though.” Joshua just remembered that he had well water, and that some woman, probably somebody like Meredith, wouldn't like it. But Meredith wasn't stuck up like that, and she didn't mind it one bit.

“Nah, it's all the same to me.” Meredith said. “I'm used to plenty of well water. Had some well water back in Disco, Tennessee, the worst well water ever, stunk like rotten eggs.”

“That's mine.” Admitted Joshua, slightly embarrassed that his house supplied such inverse luxury. “Stinks like a pile of cattle poo.”

“I don't mind it.” Said Meredith. “I have some pretty bad sinus's. I won't smell a thing.” She smiled and she couldn't help to feel slightly entertained at her sense of humor.

“Don't say that I didn't warn you.” Said Joshua.

“Thanks cowboy.” Said Meredith.

“Okay go ahead then, I'll get the rest of my stuff in the Jeep then I’ll be over okay?” Said Meredith.

“That's fine.” Joshua replied back.

He backed his pickup from out of the dogwood trees and took it up on highway then exited off turned left and headed towards ? Bridge where he cut northwest towards home. He had watched her as she followed on the highway but once on the dirt road he had lost her, the dust too thick to see if she was following or not, Once he had thought he had seen her coming around a very tight curve that snaked road venom rattling but it had been someone else where had she gone to he wondered but he didn't worry thinking perhaps she had fallen behind some traffic in which she had.

He arrived and it was ten more minutes before Meredith got there. He had heard her Jeep coming up the driveway as he was getting out a towel ready. Luca barked but settled down easing to a small whimper. “Oh stop it.” He snapped as he tried to calm his dog down. “Enough of that. She's just a friend. Coming over for dinner. And don't you think your going to get any scraps.”

Joshua stepped off of the front porch to greet her.

“Hey glad to see you made it. Delay?”

“Yeah, got behind a school bus on Addison.” She replied.

“Only one of those around here, and it's slow as molasses.” Joshua replied back, referring to the bus driven by Addie McGraw who was as old as dirt, and whose reflexes were slower then the giant tortoise he had seen in the San Francisco zoo in California. He thought it had been bad judgment by the school district to have hired such an elderly lady who couldn't see beyond her hood of her Cadillac, let alone drive a bus as long as a North Atlantic whale. He shook his head in disgust.

Joshua suddenly clapped his hands, and he jumped a little in place, excited that, even though she had been tied up behind a slow bus, Meredith was there. “You want to get cleaned up now? Pretty yourself up?”

Meredith half smiled. Her honey eyes warmed up. “Yeah.” She lightly nodded. “That would be..great!”

Joshua waved her inside. “Well, come on in!”

Joshua led Meredith into his one and only bathroom which was off the kitchen, down the hall, and to the right. His bathroom was nothing spectacular, quite dirty and moldy from a lack of cleaning, and was definitely dirtier than some of the truck stop bathrooms that she had done her business in.  He didn't like long baths or anything and had a tub that was never used but the shower had been used a lot, and the was bathroom shower head in chrome was now a little broken because of it, leaking heavily, making a dripping sound equal to Chinese water torture. He felt a little awkward having her use this private space; a dirty bathroom that lacked of feminine things such as fancy soaps and pretty soft towels. He grew embarrassed as Meredith began to look around.

“It's nothing much, just your basics.” He said, feeling a bit inept as Meredith continued to survey the small space. “Hope your not fussy. But at least have a mirror and a light so you can see.”

Meredith smiled lightly. “It will do.”

“
Good.” Joshua politely gave her the towel he had already taken out, then took out an assortment of washcloths to choose from a cabinet that hung up over the toilet. The towel and washcloths had been washed over a dozen times, were pilled, and were very old with tiny little holes and raggedy edges. He was quite embarrassed of  his linens, especially when he thought about the fancy towels she had probably dried herself off with which were full of softness and bounce and had edges that were clean with ribbon. “Help yourself to anything, even though I don’t have much. Got a bar of soap over in the corner of the tub, and there's a little bit of toothpaste left in the tube.”

Meredith smiled, biting her lower lip slightly. She knew Joshua didn't have all the luxuries that she was used to at home in Seattle, however, on the open road, she was use to cockroach infested hotels and bed bug mattress rental rooms, so these linens, worn and full of holes, were more then good and satisfied her need.

“You got some shampoo I hope? And conditioner?” Asked Meredith, scouring around for any other things that may make her shower more pleasurable, and clean.

“You okay taking a shower here then?”

“More than okay.” Meredith said. “I really need to catch up my painting after spending time with you, and who knows when my next shower might be.” She said, reflecting on the fact that sometimes when she worked she would toil and labor with her paints and paintbrushes, forgetting about time until the seconds turned into days.  “Besides they have a shower at the motel,but it spits at you.”

Meredith looked at herself briefly, noticing the fine lines that danced around her lips, and the crows feet that were starting to crinkle more with every second of the day. She looked away from the mirror for a second to face Joshua, who was standing in the door frame of the bathroom, his one shoulder leaning against the inside wood, and the other foot, kicked up over the other, as he relaxed into a leaning position. “Hope you have better pressure.”

“Afraid not.” Answered Joshua truthfully.

Meredith half smiled. “It's okay.” It really hadn't been okay, she had lied, she had really been hoping for a real shower that kicked out liquid laser beams of water that pierce through her skin. But a shower, was a shower, and anything would be better then the motel's shower of limpness.

“Got conditioner too?” Asked Meredith.

“Yeah, old though, stolen from the Proxy Hotel in Raleigh.”

“You go to Raleigh much?”

“Nah, I'm not into big cities.” He said. “I'm more of a small town type of guy.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” Meredith commented, criticizing his bathroom by categorizing it into the lifestyle that small type of guys would have.

“Thanks, .. I think.” Joshua replied back, a little shocked that Meredith had slapped him with such sarcasm. She was only teasing, and Joshua knew that, so he let it slide.

Meredith put her freshly tossed clothes on the back of the toilet, which included her pair of sandals.