Her frail thin hand trembled as she slowly reached for the call button. Looking across the unfamiliar room, she stared with deep set eyes out large picture windows facing a view of high rise buildings and the city at night with its glittering lights. Soft music was playing in the simple, elegant, and clean hotel suite. Not far from the foot of her bed was a deep emerald green velvet recliner, where a person she didn’t recognize was sleeping. A pretty face wearing a head scarf rested quietly underneath a beige plaid cashmere blanket. While waiting, she adjusted her luxurious satin pillows. She forgot why or for what she waited, but she sat up the best she could manage, and waited some more.
What seemed to her to be hours passed. The music droned on and on in a hypnotic way, with no start, no middle and no end. When she looked towards the window again, the light had changed. The sun was rising, and outlines of the buildings had become clear. It looked like dawn. The person in the recliner moved slowly, yawning out loud, and abruptly sat up to look at her with a beautiful wide smile. “Still waiting for breakfast, Maya? They should be up at 7 to drop it off, it’s 6:45 now. Let’s get you ready to start the day.” The woman adjusted her recliner, and stood up. She appeared very tall to Maya. Wrapping a pale pink hooded robe around her curvaceous body, she slipped her perfectly pedicured feet into a pair of furry slippers before walking over to the bed.
“Good morning Maya. How are you today? Let’s brush your hair, and make you look pretty for breakfast time. You never know who is going to bring it to our room. Remember the guy last week? I hope he comes back! He was gorgeous, wasn’t he!” She winked and let out a loud laugh, then sighed as she shook her hair out of the wrap and smoothed it down into a low ponytail. Maya stared blankly at the floor.
The sun was rising now, and the high-rises glinted with promise. “Let’s go to the bathroom, ok?”, a soft voice told her as perfectly manicured hands opened a small elegant wheelchair at the side of the bed. “Here we go!” Swiftly and in one motion, the tall young woman gently repositioned Maya, then lifted and placed her into the chair. Maya laughed like a child. “How did you do that?” she exclaimed. Jenny smiled. “It’s easy! You’re light as a feather!” They rolled across the room into the bathroom and went through the morning routine; potty, wash hands, wash face, and brush hair. After they were done, Jenny wrapped Maya in a fresh spa robe from the hotel bathroom closet and discarded her soiled garments into a bin for the laundry service. She dropped the adult diaper into a sealed canister in the corner.
As they wheeled back into the suite, there was a rap on the door, and Jenny carefully placed Maya in front of a setting at the small table in the dining area. She headed to the door, checking her robe and hair along the way in the full length antique gilded mirror. Pausing at the door, she asked, “Who is it?”, before getting the response, “Room service, Ma’am”. She rolled her eyes to herself. She knew it was the south, well D.C. to be exact, but she really hated being called Ma’am, even through a closed door. She was only 29 after all!
She unbolted the hotel door to a brass cart laden with a gourmet breakfast, a vase of fresh cut flowers and the newspaper. She leaned out to see who had brought it today. A tall man in staff uniform was walking down the carpeted hallway towards the elevator. She leaned out and whispered a “Thank You!”, loudly enough for him to hear her and turn around. They locked eyes and both smiled. He paused, and she motioned him to come back, as she carefully partially closed the door of the room so Maya wouldn’t hear. She quietly said, “Hi, how are you? Um, well I just wanted to thank you for making this experience so much better.” He smiled, and said the dreaded, “You’re welcome Ma’am”. She laughed as she went on a nervous ramble about Ma’am, and how she was from New York, and Ma’am felt like an insult to her even though she knew it was a polite thing here, etc. He laughed with her and she could see he was about her age and wore no wedding ring. She always made sure to look, even though she knew it definitely wasn’t foolproof.
Living in a 5 star hotel room 24/7 might have sounded amazing to her friends, and yes in a way it was. However, she missed her life. She missed companionship. She missed flirting with men. She wanted a boyfriend. All of these things had gone on hold for the time being. Weeks had turned to months, and now almost a year later, she was still here. Yes, she was saving money by doing this job, but at what cost was something she often wondered. Sure, Maya was a lovely lady, and fairly easy by most standards, but still, she had given up so much of herself.
“Well, I need to get going.” The young man broke her rambling conversation with his reality. She blushed and grabbed the rolling cart awkwardly and started maneuvering it through the door. He laughed and stepped closer. “Here, let me help you, ok?”. She smiled, noticing golden flecks sparkling in his deep brown cat-like eyes. He had a beautiful complexion, with a few fine lines etched into his forehead, as though he had been through some things. He was taller than her. “What was your name?” she asked him. “Jason, but everyone just calls me Jay”. “Okay Jay, come on in.” Once inside, she turned towards the dining area of the suite and faced Maya. She placed her hand on Jay’s strong arm, squeezing it a bit, and said “this is Jay, our friendly hotel porter. He’s bringing our breakfast. Isn’t that nice? Look, he even brought you the paper!”
Maya, who had been sitting at the table all the while, shredding a full box of tissues into a pile on the floor, paused and looked up. She smiled, revealing her few remaining teeth. Even so, it was apparent that she had once been a very attractive woman. Her white hair was still thick and full, brushed back into a soft bouffant. Her pale blue eyes lit up. “Why, you are a handsome young man! What’s your name?” “Jay, Ma’am. Jay.”
“Hello Jay. Thank you for making me breakfast and for bringing the paper. Why, I’ve never gotten the paper before!” The old woman smiled with glee at Jay. He looked a bit confused as he started to say, “well, Ma’am, you get the paper….” Jenny interrupted him before he could finish his sentence, “You know how it goes. Here today, gone tomorrow.” She gently tapped herself on the temple, implying dementia without saying the word.
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