Summer At Aunties

Chapter 2 + a slightly edited version of Chapter 1  
Chapter 3 and two other posts still to come this month.

 

CHAPTER 1

Marvin wearily leant his head against the glass window as he stared out at the countryside, watching it pass by as the train rumbled along the tracks. It had been a long journey but he had finally reached the last leg of the trip before he would reach his destination. He felt like a prisoner being forced onto the train mostly against his will. The destination was his Aunt Mildred’s house and he was to spend the whole summer there. A sentence handed down to him by his mother for failing to do anything with his life. At nineteen years old he had just spent the last twelve months fresh out of high school and spent his gap year mostly doing nothing. He coasted along, always with his mother telling him when he was going to get a job like the rest of his friends had. ‘I’ll look at the listings tomorrow’ turned from days, into weeks then months before finally a whole year had gone by and the only thing Marvin had to show for it was a significant increase of platinum trophies on his PlayStation account. 

As the one year anniversary of the day he had left school came upon him, his mother approached him one last time. 

“You’ve been living at home for a year now Marvin, you have nothing to show for it and have been a complete slob. So what’s it going to be then, you’re gap year is over now have you decided what you’re going to do at college?” 

It wasn’t like Marvin hadn’t thought about what he wanted to study, it was just a lot of pressure for him to decide. Whatever decision he came to would result in a big student loan debt that he would end up paying off for the rest of his life, the career had to be the perfect choice and he just couldn’t decide. 

“I’m sorry mum; I just don’t think I want to go to college just yet, I still don’t know what to do when I’m there.” 

Marvin’s mother sighed; she did sometimes feel like she had been putting too much pressure on her son. But she had chosen her career right off the get go, quickly making a name for herself as a successful real estate agent. If her son was doing something with his free time, even something artsy as long as he was being productive she would support him one hundred percent. But twelve months had quickly gone by as she watched her son do nothing but sit on his games all day after getting up at noon most of the time. Occasionally he would meet his friends to go out drinking, but even those trips became far and few. They had all gotten jobs or gone off to college, it seemed like everyone from his year level was doing something with their lives except for Marvin who was quickly left behind. 

It wasn’t like Marvin didn’t have any opportunity to do work, a few of his friends had offered to get him part time work with them and even his mother had offered to take him under her wing and teach him the real estate business. Unfortunately he just outright refused to do anything productive what so ever. Frustrated with her son and his lack of responsibility she would vent her displeasure of him to her sister during their nightly conversations on the phone.   

“He just doesn’t want to do anything with his life; he just sits there and plays games all day.” 

“Look Mary, unless you want to spend the next ten years having this same phone call with me every night something has to be done.” Explained Mildred who by now was exhausted hearing about her sisters lazy son every day. 

“Well what would you have me do; nothing I say motivates the boy he’s acting like such a tiresome little brat.” Complained Mary.

“I tell you what, we have a spare room here and if by the end of the year Marvin still hasn’t gotten his act together you can send him here for the summer and I’ll straighten him out. Jill is eighteen now and the epitome of a perfect daughter, she’s growing into the perfect young lady she will be a good influence on the boy I’m sure of it. Besides we both know grown up I was the sterner one of the two of us, I won’t take any crap from him and he’ll be running around doing all the housework here before the weeks end. Once I’ve turned him into the perfect respectable young man I’ll send him back to you.”

“That’s all well and good to say, but how do you know he’ll listen to you?” 

“Trust me Mary, I have my way’s to get naughty little trouble makers to listen to me. You remember the Bensen kid’s from years ago when I used to babysat, they were little shits but all it took was one night with me and the two boys were perfect little angels.” Mildred said, a coy smile appearing across her lips as she remembered fondly of that day.

“I also remember you scaring them so much they starting wetting the bed again and begged their parents not to leave them with you.” 

“Hey, I personally think night time pull ups is a much better trade-off for two well behaved kids.” replied Mildred.

“Yes, but you scared the poor things into submission.”

“If you’re so worried about your adult son being so scared of his big bad Aunt Mildred like the Bensen boys then maybe you should have put him back in diapers sooner rather than later just to be safe.” Mildred suggested. 

“Now wouldn’t that be a sight, It was so much easier back then when he used to run around the house in the summertime dressed in his crinkly diaper, more than happy to show it off to the world.” Mary pondered the thought, letting out a long sigh as she reminisced on the happy memory.  

Mildred continued pulling Mary back from her daze. “I guess we’ll just have to see how his behaviour goes; I wouldn’t say diapers are completely off the table. He hasn’t changed much he still pretty much acts like a toddler, only difference now is he’ll need a bigger diaper!” The mental image almost bought them to tears as they burst out laughing. 

CHAPTER 2

A crackling announcement came over the PA system through the worn out speaker in Marvin’s cabin. “Next stop… Lorkenville Station.” 

Finally Marvin had reached the end of the long trip. Just in time too he thought, he had only downloaded a few television shows onto his phone before he had to leave and he breezed through them quicker than expected leaving him nothing else to do with his time. Normally he would have brought his Nintendo Switch on a trip like this but his Aunt had some strange rules, one of them was strictly no video games in the house and that applied to guests too. He had neglected the use of the overhead storage lockers instead opting to leave his suitcase on the seat across from him, if someone had wanted to share his cabin he would have stowed it away for them. With nothing to do he waited until the train lurched and screeched to a halt as it pulled into the station. 

Quickly glancing to check the time on his phone before he packed away his headphones he took note of the battery levels. It was almost flat, he vaguely remembered ignoring the low battery warning earlier as he was too engrossed in the episode he was watching at the time. 

“Shit.” He thought to himself as he realised he would not have an opportunity to charge it before meeting his Aunt. 

He quickly went to his messages, seeing the last message sent from her, letting him know where to meet and well wishes for a safe trip. He quickly shot off a message telling her that they had pulled into the station, his phone was about to go flat and he would meet her at the arranged spot. Just as he clicked send the phone switched off, failing to notify him if the message had sent or not in time. He tapped his screen a few times as he thought to himself, she will see it surely he thought. He could quickly look for a charging point around the station when he got off the train but risking leaving his Aunt waiting for him when he was already not in anyone’s good books wasn’t worth it. He tucked away his phone into his pocket and left his cabin, pulling his suitcase behind him. 

Marvin stepped off the train onto the platform and took stock of his surroundings. The station was much larger than he had anticipated. He had always assumed his Aunt lived out in the middle of nowhere, he hadn’t visited her since he was a little baby she had always come with his cousin to visit them. He looked to his phone, staring at the black screen for a moment before remembering it was flat. He tried to recount the meeting place his Aunt had arranged, he hadn’t paid proper attention to it even after reading the message just moments before assuming this would be a small station. It was almost like an airport terminal; maybe not a proper one like the one in the city but this was still much bigger than expected. There weren’t a tonne of people around either so the size made it feel unnecessary and underused. 

Racking his brain for a moment he tried putting together what the full message had said and the instructions he had been given. If he remembered correctly he was supposed to meet her at the main gate. Originally he had just assumed that would have been the front of the station, but now he wasn’t so sure. Especially since now he recalled another part of the message mentioning how to get to the front gate. Deciding that standing there looking helplessly at his blank phone wasn’t going to help him he moved further into the station. Opting to have a look for himself before asking for directions had always been Marvin’s way so he helplessly paced around the large station trying to find any sign leading to a ‘main gate.’ 

As he passed by a toilet he quickly recoiled and took a step towards it as he suddenly realised that he had only used the bathroom on the train once near the start of the trip. He stopped quickly, anxiously tapping his hand against the handle of the suitcase. He couldn’t take it in there, public toilets are filthy he didn’t want to drag it along the floor. It had wheels, but even still it was a gross thought and it belonged to his mother who made very clear she wanted it brought back in the condition she had lent it to him. Not to mention the fact that he had lost track of how long he had been trying to find where he was supposed to meet his Aunt. Had it been 5, 10, 15 minutes now? He had lost track of time and was begging to feel his anxiety kicking in. Suddenly the twinge of his bladder felt worse as he could feel the stress getting to him. He quickened his pace as he raced toward the reception desk he spotted earlier in the station. 

Thankfully there was no line at the desk and he briskly made his way to the front where a middle aged woman smiled warmly at him. “Hello there, how can I help you today? You look a little lost.”

Marvin blushed as he realised how foolish he must have looked as he practically ran over to her. “Hi ummm… yes… I kind of am actually, my Aunt said to meet her at the main gate but my phone ran out of battery I can’t remember how she said to get there and I haven’t seen any signs.” 

The woman looked over him quizzically. “Hmmm…. Main gate? Are you sure you read that correctly, I’m not sure what she would have meant by that. Have you tried checking the front entrance?” 

“I went passed it, but I couldn’t see her there.”

“We have two entrances dear; did you go by the one to my left or the one to my right?”

Marvin looked in both directions she gestured toward, failing to recognise in that moment which one he had already been passed.

“Ahh, I’m not sure sorry they both look the same to me.” 

At that moment he realised the urgency of his bladder and unconsciously pushed the palm of his free hand into his crotch as he awkwardly moved his feet around.