Drowning on 4th Street | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Drowning on 4th Street | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Champion
01/09/21
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Leslie put the rubber stopper in the dirty bathtub. She looked and couldn’t remember the last time she had cleaned it. Its rim was caked with oil, grime, and hair. She turned the faucet on and let the hot water rush in and then pushed herself back up from the floor using the side of the tub. Her knees ached after being down on them for such a long time, but it was better than the alternative of bending over and having her back give out again. Stretching at this point would have probably felt good but she couldn’t bring herself to even do that much. Instead, she walked over to the tiny window next to the toilet and pulled back the dingy yellow curtain. She felt the now faded fabric in her fingers and recalled the day she had bought the curtain at the dollar store; It was bright yellow with white polka dots and immediately made her feel happy. It was rare she was able to buy new things; most of what she owned was gifted to her or bought from the thrift store.

Outside was 4th Street. Leslie counted the years she had lived there in her little brick house. If her math was correct, it would be forty-seven years come August. She and Roger had moved in about a week after getting married. They had raised three children there and enjoyed a good life for a while. After Roger died and the children grew up and moved out, things fell apart for Leslie. She stopped answering the phone or the door. She never visited her neighbors anymore and they had given up on her the same.

As she peered outside the window, she saw a girl of about seven years old on the sidewalk in front of her house. She was on a bicycle and had bright red hair pulled up into two ponytails. The little girl saw Leslie too staring at her through the window, so she waved. Leslie lifted her wrinkled hand to wave back and that seemed to satisfy the little girl. She rode happily down the sidewalk with her thick auburn hair flowing behind her in the wind.

Lelsie closed the curtain and turned around. She stooped down to turn off the water and slowly got back up. Her reflection caught her attention in the medicine cabinet mirror.

“Well, look at you Leslie! When did you get so old? My Lord, your skin is as pale as snow but you ain’t no Snow White; even the dwarves would run from you. To think that sweet child outside waved at you and you lookin’ so scary! It’s a sunny day out there on 4th Street and here you are inside drowning in your own sorrow. You are a mess. The good Lord didn’t make you to just mope around all day thinking about your aches and pains. Get movin’.” Lelie spoke these things to herself in the mirror and decided today would be different.

Folks don’t know what happened in the bathroom last May, but Leslie changed. Shortly after her little speech to herself, she walked outside and sat on the porch, something she had not done in years. She even talked to a neighbor and petted a cat. Once she got inside, she worked through her aches and cleaned her house, tub and all. She didn’t let it stop there though; she became friends with that little red-headed girl on the bicycle. Her name is Amy and she and Leslie play boardgames together every Saturday. Leslie even made herself a new curtain for the bathroom window out of an old, but still bright yellow shirt that had belonged to Roger.

God sometimes lets people just flap around in the water for a while. They get tired of going under eventually and decide to swim. That is what happened to Leslie. She got tired of drowning.

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