Suzie’s House 204: A Day in the Life of a Boarding House Owner

Suzie shoved the business end of her canister vacuum under Gene’s bed, and bumped something. Bending over, she flipped back the covers to see an amplifier. An amp? When did he get that? From where? She certainly hadn’t bought him one.

Getting down on her knees, she looked a bit further to see if he’d somehow come by an electric guitar to go with the amp, but besides a mountain of wadded school assignments mixed with old wrappers and miscellaneous junk the only thing she found was the acoustic guitar she’d loaned him.

Well, it didn’t matter. She flipped the cover back into place, finished with the vacuuming, and gladly cleared out of Gene’s room. She was so glad Ben had better habits when it came to cleaning.

No doubt it came from the way he’d lived when he had only his father to rely on. Suzie had been to his house only once, going along with Gene to collect some of his belonging when he’d first become her foster son. The place had been a complete pig sty. In comparison, his room now looked pristine.

Better to not focus on that. When she thought about where Gene came from, it made her want to adopt him, which he still resisted. She’d found a program through the university that would do therapy sessions on a sliding scale and gotten him signed up, but hadn’t heard back from them yet.

She’d go with a regular therapist, but they cost so much money, and now that she only had money coming in from Miranda and Vin, things were a bit tighter. She couldn’t even rent out the room Drew had paid for because now Gene lived there.

Suzie vacuumed her way up the hall. She bypassed both Vin and Miranda’s rooms, trying to not think about Drew. Just as she’d expected, the calls had become fewer and fewer between. His time on special assignment in New Mexico showed no sign of ending. Worse, there was something off about the way he talked now. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but it made her uncomfortable.

She reached Ben’s room and pushed the door open with her foot. The way the door sounded – a certain kind of hollow echo, made her painfully aware of how empty the house was now that the kids were in school and the grown ups all off at work during the day. She wasn’t always sure what to do with herself.

Maybe she should try to get another accounting job.

It would certainly help with the pinched finances. Would it help in her bid to adopt Gene? She’d have to ask Jeff, her lawyer.

Sure enough, Ben’s room… well it wasn’t neat as a pin, but she didn’t have to pick up dirty laundry or trash to vacuum, the way she did in Gene’s room. She ran the vacuum around on the carpet around his bed and would have called it good, but curiosity got the better of her.

Did he hide things under his bed the way Gene did? What if he was simply better at pushing things back where her vacuum wouldn’t hit? She bent down and lifted the bedspread.

Underneath were the plastic “sweater” boxes she’d gotten him years ago as a way of organizing things, and that was all. She didn’t even think of looking inside, merely felt reassured that they were as she should expect them.

However, when she backed up before straightening, she noticed something behind the back leg of his desk. Something must have fallen down there. A flash drive? How odd. She’d never bought him a flash drive. It must be one of her own, though how it got here was a wonder.

She scooped it up and dropped it in her pocket, only to forget about it until bed time when she emptied her pockets out of habit.

That’s how Ben’s flash drive ended up on Suzie’s bureau.

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