I Eat Oreos

1

Kayla

My mother was sometimes seen as weird for letting strangers stay in our home for free. But Mama always said, "God gave us a big house so we should have a big heart in return and share this gift with others."

God did, in fact, give us a big house. 10 bedrooms and each with it's own bathroom. The bathrooms weren't all originally there, but my mother had them installed once we started getting more visitors. It's for the guest to feel comfortable.

Our town had about a good 1000 people in it. We didn't know everyone, but it seemed a lot of them knew us. We'd been on the news, in local newspapers/blogs. We were the good Samaritans. So, whenever people came into town and didn't want to pay for some fancy hotel, they came to our house.

Many people stayed in our house who were visiting for business, visiting others in town, resting from a road trip, or who lived in town but their house had been infested or were under renovations. Our most frequent visitor was my best friend, Erica. She just stayed in my room.

Some people ask me how I feel about people always being in my house. I know they expected me to say I hated it, or that I wish we could just have our house to ourselves, but really... that just wasn't the case. I love meeting new people and getting to serve them. Every time I meet a new person in our house, I take a Polaroid of them, if they let me, and put their name on the white part. I have a box where I keep all these pictures. There's a total of 99 pictures in there.

I love waking up not knowing what the day could be like and what I could be sent out by my mom to do. Like now. I was out going to the store to get ingredients for pumpkin and sweet potato pies Mama was making.

Mama likes to personalize every guest visit. If they're staying for at least one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner, she likes to make something they like and get them snacks.

In Tracy's Store, I gathered up the ingredients and took them to the cash register.

"Mrs. Rosenburg is back, huh?" Maya, the cashier, asked. She could tell just by the ingredients. "She should just get a house here, or a condo," she said before I could even say yes.

"I told her once before, but she prefers to just stay with us," I said. "It's that food your Mama be making. And obviously the pies." We both laughed. Maya was Tracy's daughter and she'd been a cashier at her mom's store ever since she was 10. Now she's 17. I see her around school sometimes.

Driving back home, I listened to my jazz music. I loved all kinds of jazz from Ella Fitzgerald to Kenny G. Although I loved meeting new people, I still liked when there were times with just me, myself, and jazz.

As I pulled up in my driveway, I passed a car I'd never seen before here. License plate: South Carolina. A Jeep. I scrunched my nose. I hate Jeeps.

When I stepped through the front door, I heard Mama talking to someone.

"You are so kind! Thank you so much! I didn't even realize that's what that was," Mama's voice could be heard in the kitchen.

"Oh, it's alright miss. You know many people don't know that," I heard a voice with a southern accent say.

I slowly stepped into the kitchen and put the bags gently on the counter. Mama was facing me and a man was facing the opposite way toward her. I looked him over. He had on a flannel with some jeans. Looking down I saw some brown boots. The curly hair on that man's head, though!

"Kayla!" My mother yelled excited. I hated it so much when she did that. I was less than twenty feet away and she still couldn't use her inside voice. Correction, that, unfortunately, was her inside voice.

"This is Gavin! He's our new guest!" Gavin was now looking at me. He gave me a smile that reached his greenish grey eyes, then gave me a nod. "How you doin', miss?" A little southern gentleman. His hand was suddenly in front of me for me to shake. I did. Never noticed how tiny my hands were.

"Hi-" I began to say until Mama cut me off.

"Gavin is so sweet. He fixed our kitchen faucet. I didn't even know anything was wrong with it. In fact, Gavin, you mind checking the other faucets around here?" Mama asked.

I shook my head at her rambling. "Not at all, Mrs. Morgan." He really didn't seem to mind with a little smile resting on his face.

"Please, call me Keirah," Mama said.

"Alright, Miss Keirah it is."

"Kayla, show Gavin his room. I put him in section C."

Our house was divided up into 5 sections. Where my parents and I stayed. Which is where all our valuables are at. Of course we didn't just leave our important things out with everyone. Then there's sections A, B, C, and D. There were two bedrooms in each section so that no one would feel overcrowded. The bedrooms are separated by a little lounging area where there's a couch, love seat, and a table. Mama decorated each section nicely and puts snacks and magazines on the tables. Sections A and B were in the basement. Section C and D were upstairs.

"Oh Gavin! What kind of snacks do you like?" Mama asked. Gavin looked in thought.

"Oh, I love me some Oreo's," he finally said smiling. "I get me a mug of milk and dip 'em in there. It is delicious." But he said it like "dee-li-shus." I couldn't help but smile. That southern accent was something else.

"Oreo's. Got it!" Mama looked at me and I nodded. Back to the store to get some Oreo's.

"Alright, Gavin. You can follow me and I'll show you your room so you can put your bags up. Then, I'll show you around so you know where to go," I stated simply. I hoped I didn't sound like a robot.

"Okay, Miss Kayla, lead the way," he said chirpy.

When we got to his room, he was astonished. Each room had a queen sized bed with white sheets. There was a TV and refrigerator. And of course, the bathroom.

"And all of this is free?" Gavin asked.

"Yeah! And there's some juice, soda, and water bottles in that fridge if you'd like," I said pointing to the mini-fridge.

"How are y'all paying for all of this?" He asked more so to himself, but I still heard him.

"My father is the top surgeon in the city."

My dad worked down in the bustling city of Atlanta where all the action was. He was the top surgeon to go to. So, every athlete, celebrity, and rich business owner went to him as well.

"What's he doing? Plastic surgery?" Gavin asked laughing a little. "Actually, no. Mostly injuries and cardio thoracic. You know, dealing with the heart, lungs and all."

Many people had wondered why we had enough money to do all this and that was the reason. My father was a surgeon and he believed in giving his money back to the community. He always told me, though, that if it weren't for God working through my Mama he'd probably be a selfish man with this house all to himself.

"You got one nice family. Not many people who are this rich would do something like this."

"Well, it's a good thing we're us and not them." He turned to look at me when I said that. He gave me a once over and then grinned.

He put down his bags, looked at his room once more, grabbed a water bottle, and then faced me.

"So, where do we start Miss Kayla?"