It was three in the afternoon and I had just arrived at my best friend Frank's house. I went through the back gate as I was previously instructed to do and sat on the bench in his backyard. With the sun in my eyes and the sweat dripping down my unprotected forehead, I quickly lit my cigarette and inhaled a combination of life and death. "Why the hell am I smoking, it's not like it does anything for me" I mumbled. Frankie met me out back and did the same. We started small talking about school, girls, and how he had spent three hours the previous day working on the yard. Pointing at the grass he said, "Man I hate cutting this shit every weekend!" .
"At least you have grass to cut, I have to look at rocks when I"m in my backyard." I said in a humorous tone. Frank sat back down and said, "I guess I do take things for granted a little bit. It could be worse. Remember back in Korea when they"d lift up the sidewalks and the sewage drains were right there?" .
"How could I forget the smell?" It was the most retched, disgusting smell you could possibly imagine. "Seems like only yesterday." I said.
There was a stain-glass window with a silhouette of the Virgin Mary at the opposite end of my bed. At night it was only a window, but in the morning, the sun would explode through the glass and it was almost too bright to stare at. I"d lie in my bed for a few minutes, dreading the fact that I"d have to take a shower. The apartment that we lived in was only about half a mile from the military base where my dad worked. We lived on the second story and the hot water never wanted to work. The pipes in that place were old and never wanted to cooperate. The shower was about the size of a normal room. It was humongous. The drain was in the middle and the showerhead was extendable so you could carry it around with you. My sister and I would get into our bathing suits and we"d grab the cooler that my Mom kept in the kitchen.
