Confined And Breathless

41

Fort Collins is a city north of the Colorado state capital of Denver. After hearing about the vast size and traffic congestion of Denver from my not as older brother, mother decided that she'd move to a smaller city like Fort Collins that would still be near to him, but have a slower pace of life comparable to the various larger towns of New England.

As mother had just been looking to buy a house in the apartment town that we had lived in for the past four years, I was stunned by the news that we were moving to Colorado. Not just that, but we'd move only days after my Freshman year of High School let out. Unlike the move to the apartment town where I didn't realize I had any choice in the matter, this time I told my mother that I'd stay behind and move in with dad so I could continue school with my friends. She was speechless by this, then told me I didn't have any choice. I told her I did and she decided we'd talk about it more later. The next time I was at the old family home with dad for his mid-week days off, I told him that mom was moving to Colorado and asked if I could move in with him. He seemed surprised that I'd be willing to leave mom, but at the same time saw it as a feather in his cap if I did move back to the house full-time, thus 'choosing him over her'. I didn't care about the politics of it, I just didn't want to get stranded in another new town with no friends as when we'd first moved to the apartment town, this time over a thousand miles away from any other place to stay.

Knowing that my earlier bluff of moving in with dad was now a true option, I affirmed with mom that it was what I'd be doing. She came up with a compromise. I would move to Colorado and help her settle in, then, if I still wanted, I could fly back and live with dad for the school year. I reluctantly agreed and, soon after, packing began. I have no idea what Joe had to say when he heard the news, but it turned-out mother had a plan...

We had one day between the end of school and the moving van to make sure everything was packed up. My mother had convinced my not as older brother to fly back to New England and trade off making the drive with her. In reality he did all the driving. Most all of our belongings went into the moving van except for the small black & white T.V. and two sleeping bags which ended up in the car with me, my brother, our mother, and the luggage crammed into the trunk and the floor of the back seat. I had the back seat, itself, though with no place to put my feet, I osculated between sitting sideways across the seat with my legs stretched out, or lying on my side on the seat with my legs tucked in... For the next four days.

While we didn't have time for sight seeing during the trip, we did stop briefly at a Great Lake's beach with its tall sand dunes. Then later in the trip, once mother was settled into the motel, my not as older brother took me to see a new movie. It was 'R' rated and it was science fiction! And it blew my mind: Alien. Having the chance to see the movie made the otherwise endless days on the road worth while.

Mother had my brother go apartment hunting for her the month before while she was still in New England and he was in Denver. From those he saw and recommended, my mother had picked a two bedroom apartment that wasn't available until the first of July. Thus with about a week to kill, we spent our first night in Colorado at Denver which allowed my brother a chance to check on his apartment and have a night to sleep in his own bed. We'd found a motel nearby and I stayed behind and had the room to myself while mother and brother went to see his apartment. When he lead her back, him now in his own car and mother following in her car, she was thankful that she had decided not to live in Denver itself after her brief experience driving in it.

The following day he lead us to the interstate highway and off to mom's new home town. With the apartment unavailable, we already had reservations at a motel where mom and I would stay for a few days. We took a drive to where the new apartment was located and a brief trip downtown before my brother returned to Denver and we stayed behind. This motel had a pool and, more importantly, there was no one interested in using it; so I spent much of my first two days using the pool for hours on end. Given my 'situation', I kept my shirt on in the pool and would grab a towel from the side of the pool to bunch up and hang on the back of my neck and over my chest whenever I got in or out of the water to keep things hidden. But, it wasn't a big problem, as I said, no one else was using the pool. This was my last time in a pool or doing any swimming for that matter. And the only reason I did this for just the first two days is because I was hit with a massive case of altitude sickness.

Crushing pain in my head and chest, I winced with every breath. Had I known I needed to get used to the altitude ahead of time, I wouldn't have spent the first two days holding my breath in the pool. Now it was time to pay the piper and I lay in bed for the whole following day and most of the next. By the fifth day my chest and head no longer hurt badly and I could walk around again without leaning on the walls and furniture. Mother went off to see if the apartment would be ready in time and left behind some money so I could walk to the local supermarket and get some food.

Up till then I had known two supermarkets during my lifetime, the branch and the much larger main store that Joe owned, but the store up the street from the motel was about half again the size of both of those stores combined. I roamed the endless aisles and ducked oversized shopping carts being pushed by the bustling people inside. I finally found the deli section and discovered that I had to take a number rather than wait in line, another first for me. With no menu, I had no idea what to ask for once my number was called and the girl had to lead me through how to order a sandwich: Bread, meat, cheese? Back at the motel I found I had enough sandwich to last me two meals. Even though not in Denver itself, there was a different scale to life in Colorado that I would have to get used to.

Finally, the new apartment was ready and we left the motel to move into the empty rooms. We had a black & white T.V., two sleeping bags, and our luggage as the Summer commenced.

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