I’ve been having a rash of bad luck for the last 24 hours. Most of it has been of the “wrong time, wrong place” variety, but a least a little of it was legitimate misfortune.
First
After a delicious nap at home between my morning and afternoon shifts of classes, I went downstairs to pee, an activity I find myself doing a lot more these days. There’s only one bathroom for the six people living at the house and Carmen and the girls find it altogether insufferable that I insist on privacy when doing my business. Yes, we’re all women (with the exception of Ruyman). Yes, I don’t have anything they haven’t seen before. But no, I’m not particularly inclined to share it all with them. And I’d really rather not see what they have to offer either, especially as it applies to my rather hefty mother-in-law.
Up until yesterday I have been extremely fortunate, but it seems my luck finally ran out. I rounded the corner to confront Carmen half-naked on the toilet, cheerfully waving at me with the door wide open. This definitely counts as mal suerte.
Second
That evening, I was at a private student’s home. He’s the most precociously adorable eight year-old boy who’s obsessed with comics and drawing. Since he’s an only child, his parents make use of the time I spend with him doing things they otherwise couldn’t while he’s unsupervised. (NO, I don’t mean THAT. Get your mind out of the gutter.) Anyhow, nature called again and I rounded yet another corner to see yet another naked woman, this time in full monty on her way to the shower. No towel. No bathrobe. No nothing.
It was one of those face-to-face deals where it’s impossible to pretend that nothing happened, so I muttered a hasty “Perdon” and tried an immediate about-face. She motioned me back, saying, “No, passa, passa,” meaning, “Go ahead and pee while I hang out here naked in the hallway.” Does the word “awkward” not exist in Spanish or what?
Third
Later that night, I exited the commuter train and arrived home, still dripping a little. “What happened to you?” asked Ruyman.
“Do you remember telling me about a certain day of the year when I shouldn’t ride around with the windows down because people throw water balloons at you? That wasn’t today, by any chance, was it?” I asked. “No,” said Ruyman. “Why?”
I toweled off a little. “Because on the train ride home, we stopped in Ofra and there was some teenage boy screaming outside the door. I knew better than to make eye contact with him but I did anyway. I think I was so tired I was just staring at things. Anyhow, as the door closed, the kid tossed an entire bucket of water inside at me. It was fortunate that I was just to the left of the door, so most of it got the ceiling and the guy standing opposite of me, but still. It kinda sucked.”
“Huh,” said Ruyman. “Bad luck.”
Fourth
Ruyman was sick most of yesterday. He’s been working himself into the ground, so I wasn’t really surprised. Because we need the money, I covered most of his classes at school while he convalesced at home. His maladies included body aches, fever, digestive distress, and a cough.
As today is Thursday, it’s a light day for me. I only have three classes, two of which are private and all of which are one on one. My day doesn’t actually start until 1:30. Since I was feeling kind of poorly myself this morning, I treated myself to a lie-in until about 12:30. I figured the stomach ache I had was due to a morning sickness/empty stomach cocktail and went out to lunch with Ruyman at a little place near work we both like. He had to be back to work at four, so I wanted to hang out with him a little before we had to part ways. While we were both prepping for our classes at the school, I found myself suddenly reinitiated into the previously mentioned Brown Dart Society. Turns out my bellyache wasn’t morning sickness so much as it was the diarrhea Ruyman had from yesterday. Lucky me!
Now
At this moment, I’m sitting in bed at home. I’ve decided to stay here until my luck changes.
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