Kiss of A Titan

She yawned, preparing for a brief siesta and pressed one of the car's automated buttons on the dashboard which brought the windows down except mine for proper ventilation. "That's better", she remarked feeling the refreshing breeze rushing in to calming her nerves as the heat diffused out of the car through the windows.

"The walk was tiring, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, couldn't deal with walking around under the sun out there", "Then who was that man earlier?" I asked curiously.

"That's no one....just some random stranger I met at a tennis court around the corner playing with some friends of his", "I suspected he was the one who gave you the directions to our new house", "Well, yeah...He really did come through for us", she replied wanting to drift off to sleep but I wasn't done yet getting what I wanted.

"He seemed like a good looking in his outfit."

"I'm not sure of his looks but I think he has a good heart", "You do? No wonder you were smiling like that in front of him", I teased.

"Don't get your wrapped up in things that aren't going to happen", she advised me.

"But it doesn't seem that way to me at all", "Come on, Rosalie...shut the hell up and allow me to sleep", She gave an evasive reply and shut her eyes tight.

She relaxed more quickly than expected on the front seat while I looked at her face and saw that she was already trying hard to sleep off from the conversation whilst Tom who had been listening quietly to both stared at me with a bit of sleep in his eyes.

He had been sobbing silently ever since aunt returned and wasn't too vibrant like the way he was earlier. I ignored him and put my earpiece back on since I already knew that we would be spending another hour at the corner of the road and sleep was far away from my eyelids. It took my aunt about an hour and some minutes to get us back on the road track again after relaxing briefly inside the car.

She was quick to find the house this time around and eventually, we safely arrived at the house where we ought to have been some hours but we parked near the road instead of driving through a narrow pathway that ran through to the front porch of the duplex apartment in the midst of the broad courtyard where unkempt short grass grew at the opposite field of the route which to my greatest surprise, aunt chose not to take us through in order for us to be able to move in a lot easier than having to walk over a little distance from the road to the front door.

Some of the grasses and shrubs on both sides of the field were overgrown and needed cutting to make the vicinity look tidy enough for us to dwell inside.

"Phew. This is it. We made it", she said gasping in relief at the end of the irksome journey from Georgia. She was about to leave the car when Tom began to complain.

"But, Mom, don't you think it's better to get the car a little closer? I feel tired already being cooped here all day", "For once, I agree with Tom, aunt. Our feet are probably numb by now from sitting here at the back seat", I rejoined. "Guys, it's just a little distance away from the car", "I know, mom but I can't carry my bags and that of Nora's if I'm very tired", said Tom, feigning a weary look across his face which looked quite convincing to aunt, "Ugh...fine, you win. I'll park the car near the porch but in return, you and Tom will carry all the bags into the house including Nora's things", she said and then, we all looked at Nora who was sleeping profoundly where she had been playing with her doll. "So that's why I haven't heard her voice since we were coming in this direction", Aunt said to herself as we stared at Nora sleeping profoundly.

"Aw, she looks so cute sleeping", "Absolutely, anyway, let's get going then", Aunt turned and took to the steering wheel once again while Tom and I adjusted ourselves back on the seat so as not to get swayed by the vehicle that was about to move. Aunt restarted the car and its life was restored in a heartbeat.

"Tom, make sure you keep Nora from falling", "I will, Mom", "Good boy", she replied by taking her right hand off the steering wheel and tousled Tom's hair with her fingers. Then she retracted them back again and drove the car far back to the beginning of the street but halted aloof from the tiled road that ran into the neighborhood. She steered us forward and took a left turn towards the narrow track which eventually led us straight into the broad front yard till we reached the end of the road at the front porch.

"There you go. Happy now, Rosalie?"

"Let's say....for the moment", She chuckled at my response and pushed the left car door open. I quickly unstrapped my seat belt and joined her outside. Surprisingly, aunt didn't put on her seat belt like she usually does and it made it quite easier for her to come out of the car first before I did followed by Tom who left Nora sleeping inside the car. The apartment now looked a lot bigger as we stood closer to the veranda than it was before aunt drove us to the front porch and it was then that I sighted a smaller circular window protruding outwards on the corrugated rooftop from where I stood beside the car.

It had its own V-shaped roof covering it of which we didn't see earlier that the house had an attic, a notable difference from the rest of the houses in the neighborhood which we figured had none when passed by on the way to the new house. The structures of the house weren't too much older like it was in the photo shown to us by Aunt some months back. Its corners as well as the glassy windows were still fancy looking despite it being abandoned and shut from the inside with most part of the Venetian blind showing through the glass.

Everywhere was clean and tidy to my taste even a toddler would fancy the yard to be that of a wide playground in a park without the need of erecting a fountain to make the vicinity more lively but of all this, there was this refreshing cool breeze around the vicinity partly because of the thick trees at both left flanks of the house and it made me feel more comfortable at home even though we haven't stepped inside the apartment which of course we knew the front door was locked.

I stood for a minute to smell the refreshing air brewing around even though the sun was still as hot as it was when we first arrived in town but the trees as well as the grassy shrubs on the fields seemed to have absorbed every bit of heat radiating from the sun in the environment.

Before my eyes could pick out some swings near the bushy side of the little forest now covered by long thick grasses, Aunt had carried Nora on her shoulder before shutting the door of the car and its sound as it closed brought my mind off from savoring the breeze hovering around us in the tranquil vicinity. She headed towards me but called out to Tom, instead, who had found his way to the back of the truck to get the bags by the time we all got our feet ready to storm into the house.

"Tom, Get the bags while Rosalie, help him get them out", she ordered taking no glances at my confusion as she forced her way through the back of the car towards the little staircase that led her to the threshold of the doorstep. I walked to where Tom was and he was already taking out some of the heavier things with the little manpower he could gather from his fierce hold on one of the luggage.

Then my attention drifted away from him and fell on Aunt already at the door looking for something she and I knew very well was the only means we could use to enter the house.

"Are the keys with you?" I asked in the best British accent I could use to express my concerns clearly to her.

"Thankfully, yes they are right in my pockets...." she replied reaching for the keys in her pockets but Nora's huge weight and plump body size was making it difficult for her fingers to grasp hold of the pockets where the keys were. She stretched twice all to no avail.

"Can I help you?" I asked again using the same accent as before but this time more pronounced than the first.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Join Tom to get the bags out of the car....I just need to get the keys....from the pockets", she replied, still struggling to get hold of the edge of her pockets while finding it hard to endure Nora's weight. For some minutes, she failed to reach the keys in her jeans pocket while I looked on hoping that she would succeed in her intentions to get the keys out of her pocket but she seemed unable to get her fingers into the pocket each time she tried to get to it.

Tom had already noticed her tussling with no one but herself and was standing close to me watching as well after taking quite a few of the luggage down from the car mostly, the ones he could pull out of the open boot with his bare hands. I became fed up watching her not succeeding in what she wanted to do and couldn't keep myself waiting for her to retrieve the keys any longer.

"Stay here, Tom. I'll be right back", I whispered.

"But-" Tom looked at me in surprise.

"I said I'll be right back. Aunt needs my help", I replied but aunt overhead me.

"Don't come any closer. I can handle this myself just fine. God damn this thing", she retorted in agitation when she couldn't get the key once again.

"No, you can't do it with Nora pressing hard on you. Let me help"

"I said I can do this easy shit on my own. There's no need to come over...just give me five minutes and I'm done getting the key out", I refused to comply with her instructions.

"I'm coming anyway. You can punish or thank me later as long as we can get that door open before then", I said climbing the stairs to meet her already sweating profusely under the heat. From the look on her face, partially covered with sweat, I could see that she was already tired enduring the weight from her daughter bending her left shoulder to one side of her body. I didn't wait for her to tell me where the key was and I quickly took it from her tight back pocket. Then I handed it back to her. She received it warmly and thrust the key into the keyhole on the door knob. The door flung open as soon as she twisted the key to the left which forced the latch open from the other side of the door.

"Thanks", she appreciated it with a smile across her lips.

"Don't mention it", Before I could say something more in return, Tom called out to his mother from where he was standing beside the open boot with some of the luggage beside his short legs which was barely covered by his green shorts. "Mom, tell Rosalie to help me get the big bags inside otherwise I won't be carrying any", "Go help him out. I'll take it from here", Aunt said to me and marched inside carrying Nora on her shoulder, not minding the fact that Tom and I were left outside with the whole bags near the car to carry inside with us.

Reluctantly, I went back to where Tom was smiling triumphantly at me when I came back but I ignored him and took three of the four bags he had brought down from the car.

"I'll take these. Don't forget to bring the other bags remaining inside the boot outside", "But they are too heavy and I've tried bringing it out with the best I can but it didn't work", he complained.

"Then deal with it. It's your problem that you aren't strong enough to take it down not mine", I answered and left him gaping his mouth in amazement as he watched me roll the three luggages away from him into the house to join Aunt inside leaving him behind to stare at me as I left without minding the fact that he doesn't have the strength to move two of the bigger luggage that belong to aunt.

Feeling ecstatic about entering into the house for the first time, I rolled the bags towards another staircase with a spiral handrail that ended at the upper left side of the heightened cubicle since the parlor had a lot of space and left it at the bottom. I met Aunt by the door on the way back to meet Tom outside of stairs after cuddling Nora to sleep on one of the large sofas utterly covered by a large white blanket just like the other household furniture in the house. "You feel alright, aunt?"

"Yes, I'm okay. Nora's been eating quite a lot and I promise to control her appetite once we are done settling down", "What about Tom?"

"Tommy's problem isn't his stomach but his attitude, so, i guess that I would be working on making sure he doesn't have naughty friends in the house", "Good thought", I said and it was then that I realized that I had left Tom behind in the car with two larger bags that he cannot take off the open boot on his own without anyone assisting him.

"Aunt, I gotta go. Some of the bags are still in the car", "Oh, right. I need to make a phone call", she said checking her pockets if she had kept her burner inside them.

"Your cell phone is in the car", I reminded her and took a step ahead of her to the doorstep.

"Oh, yes, it is...I completely forgot", she said in surprise after recalling leaving the device on the front seat of the car. I led her outside of the house and went to meet Tom already struggling with one of the heavy bags while she went to the front of the car to get her cell phone from inside the vehicle.

Tommy was glad to see me coming back to help him and felt relieved that I was back to ease the heavy load on him. He quickly let go of the bag's handle and kept panting profusely in a funny way that got me giggling with laughter. "Leave it. I'll bring it out myself", I said proudly with laughter written all over my face. He became perplexed and then peered at me in confusion.

"What's so funny?"

"You look funny, that's all. Move aside and let me show you how real strength works", I drew the first bag closer with ease using the handle and pulled it down with ease. He was truly amazed at the great strength I used in getting the bag down that left him bereft of words. Tom looked at me completely stunned and dumbstruck when he saw me bringing down the other bag from the car.

I looked at Tom and he was already disappointed in himself for failing to get the bags. Then I patted him on the shoulder and gave him a friendly smile which brightened up his shady face.

"Come on, Tom. Don't feel bad about not being able to get the bags down", "I could have tried harder", he replied and his face turned pale at once.

"It doesn't matter if you weren't able to get the bags but what matters is that you did your best", "But it wasn't enough", "Forget about it and put on a smiling face. Aunt won't like it if she sees like this", "But in return, you have to tell me something first", "What do you want me to tell you?", "Why do you always call mum, aunt? She's your mum too but you call her aunt like you aren't related", I took a slight pause searching for a preferred answer to give to the inquisitive fellow whose curiosity knew no boundaries.

"I don't know....I like calling her that way and I've gotten used to it", "But it wasn't like that when you were kid", "Tom, please let's discuss this next time, okay?" "Alright. Always killing the joy of knowledge", He looked elsewhere while I chuckled at his statement and got my act together.

"As for the heavy bags, you'll have the strength to carry eventually when you get to my age",  "Your age?" he almost exclaimed with surprise.

"Yes, Tom. Why are you so shocked about it", "That means it'll really take a long time for me to become like you", "Pretty much but your thoughts won't change as long as you decide to remain the way you are", I said forgetting that we had to carry the rest of the luggage inside the house and Aunt who was making a phone call at the rear of the car caught us standing without making any effort to move the things inside. She briefly took the phone off her ears and yelled at us from where she stood.

He wanted to say something but his speech was interrupted.

"Rosalie! Get the things inside. Why are you standing there?", she screamed at us on the top of her voice while avoiding direct contact with whoever she was talking to on the other side of the phone call.

"Let's get going before we land into much trouble", I said to Tom and he cheerfully grinned a lovely smile at me. Then he took the smaller luggage which matches that of his strength and headed first for the little raised platform where he met the staircase which gave him a little difficulty pulling the bags up. I wanted to help him but he perceived my intentions.

"I can handle it. Allow me to do it myself", he requested and somehow he was able to end the tussle between him and the staircases very quickly unlike Aunt who was battling to get the keys to the house earlier on.

I followed Tom soon after, taking the two heavy luggage that had posed too headstrong for Tommy to carry inside and it really did give me a challenge raising it past the platform on which the staircase was built but I succeed anyway and entered into the spacious living room where I met Tom exactly where I wanted him to be, at the foot of the spiral staircase where I had kept the other bags which I had earlier taken into the house, staring at the broad quiet house with a peculiar Italian interior house design which left us completely amazed by the decors and choral wall pattern that was printed on the wallpaper used in cover only most part of the walls around the living room.