no dumping

I opened the door for the sales 'boy' from pest control and offered his kind words in the direction of my mother and walked away. I knew that bugs tend to be a problem in Texas and also knew that sooner rather than later it would be my parents turn to respond 'combatively'. With the heat and the lack of water, they are becoming a nuisance and reproducing at an alarming rate. My mother bought into his speech for one reason or another and I watched as he entered the house, from a distance, and made his way down the hall corridor to use the bathroom as my mother stated. Her doubt to his request and her acceptance became apparent and she watched the clock waiting for him to re-appear.

After several minutes she shouted down the hall, 'are you alright in there?'. I covered my head trying to control the laughter, heard a faint yeah and soon after he was escorted out of the house, his scent permeating not only the bathroom, but the corridor as well. I thought of the stories he must be telling his associates tonight or the stories he will soon tell over a cold beer. I thought of the sign I had over my own toilet for years that stated simply, no dumping in scarlet letters. Today he had to dump at a strangers and we knew it.

And with any luck, he will be the representative that returns tomorrow or the next day when the bugs are extinguished and I will look, puzzled and smiling, only to embarrass him a little more, only because I find the humor in the entire situation. And part of me wants to give him a bear hug and thank him sincerely as the excitement and the laughter, non-stop laughter, he provided me for the remainder of today has been priceless and worth telling over and over again.