The Writing Machine

Stories by Christian Cloud Abraham

Stinky

MEMOIR PROJECT ROUGH DRAFT

We call him Stinky because he doesn’t wipe his ass. Or if he does, you wouldn’t know it by the thick layers of shit crust in his underwear. I know this because of the six of us that room together, I am stuck sharing a wardrobe with Stinky. His shit-filled underwear pile up in a thick clear bag he uses for laundry, and after a good week in the bag, the wafting smell of stale crap permeates my clothes. Some Jr. Corps, not me, were reproved by Stinky’s mother for openly calling him Stinky to his face. I’m not that bold. I was reproved instead for putting my foot down and not taking his shit. With several Jr. Corps girls in the room, I opened the wardrobe door to get out a shirt and the wafting odor of his underwear pushed me over the edge. I dumped out Stinky’s laundry bag and, barehanded, in front of all the girls, turned every pair of his shit-crusted underwear inside out and left them on his bunk. This grossed out the girls… more than I expected. The next day Stinky’s mom pulled me aside after lunch in the family room, and like a good mother, defended her son. She told me it was not the love of God to embarrass her son by showing his underwear to a room full of girls. I didn’t care how she knew about the girls in the room, and I didn’t care that I am only 14, I wasn’t going to take her shit either. I told her it wasn’t the love of God that he didn’t wipe his butt and his dirty underwear stink up the wardrobe that I have to share with him. I told her Stinky stunk (I didn’t really call him Stinky, I used his real name). I told her he rarely showered, he didn’t clean himself properly, and his poor hygiene stunk up the wardrobe and our room too. I told her the loving thing to do would be to talk to him about his hygiene and make him start bathing and cleaning himself properly after he uses the bathroom. She did not rebut. Instead, she told me she would talk to Stinky about his hygiene. The next morning Stinky’s mom woke him up, and much to his reluctance, made him shower. And that was all she did. Within a week, Stinky stunk again.

END
© 2007 Christian Cloud Abraham

Posted on May 9, 2007 in
Emotion: Disgust, Type: Creative Nonfiction