Remote Control

There were empty potato chip bags and other crap on the floor; it looked like a scene out of Animal House.

I sat her on the bed while I went and ran a bath. When I came back she still had a long face. I sat beside her.

"I'm not cross with you, Kelly, it's just that I worry if I don't know where you are. Will you promise me not to do it again?"

"I promise," she nodded.

"But only if you promise not to leave me again." "I promise. Now get undressed for a bath." I picked her up and basically threw her in the bath before she had time to think.

"Do you wash your own hair or get somebody to do it?" I asked. I didn't have a clue.

She looked like she was going to cry.

I said, "Do you want me to wash it for you?"

"Yes, please." I wondered what was going on in that little mind of hers.

I got out the shampoo and started in; she moaned about the soap in her eyes and that the suds were tickling her ears, but I could tell she loved the attention. I couldn't blame her; she hadn't had much lately. Her world had been turned upside down, and she didn't even know it yet.

"You stink!" Kelly made a face as she caught the smell of Lance White's bladder on my clothes.

"These clothes are a bit old," I said.

"Make sure you get all the shampoo out of your hair, and wash yourself with soap."

She looked as if she was having fun. I was glad somebody was. Walking into the bedroom, I called behind me, "Then I want you to put some clean clothes on. There're knickers and an undershirt on the bed."

"What're knickers?"

"These." I picked them up and walked back to show her.

"They're not, they're panties!"

Kelly was a water baby. That was great for me; the longer she was in the bath, the less time I had to spend dealing with her. I was finding it quite tiring, having to clean, dress, talk, answer questions. I left her splashing around for another half an hour, then dragged her out and told her to go dry herself.

I got in the shower, shaved, and got changed, bundling all my old clothes and Kelly's into a plastic laundry bag and stowing it inside the duffel. I'd get rid of it at the first opportunity.