Richard's First Morning

Richard woke up, still a bit groggy. He looked over at the clock on the nightstand, reading 6:40. Good, he’d been able to sleep in a bit. He looked around the room to reorient himself. He was in the bedroom Genet had laid out for him laying in a confusingly large bed. It could easily hold four people, maybe even five, without feeling cramped. He wasn’t sure he wanted to think about why it could hold that many people, because that led him to thoughts he felt guilty having.

He wanted to move on from that, so he got into the shower and started getting ready for the day. The shower was a miracle, a behemoth with three shower heads and water pressure so strong he couldn’t think.

As he was getting dressed, he heard a familiar knock. Three quick taps, a pause, then one loud knock. He hadn’t expected her, especially so early in the day. He grabbed a polo shirt and put it on right before opening the door. “Hazel? What can I help you with?”

She stood on the paved steps outside in her standard suit and a blue tie. “Ms.Turner needs your help again sir. It’s the problem from last night.”

“It happened again?”

“Yes sir. It is supposed to restart once each day when you wake up. She asked me to come get you when she felt it start.”

Richard made a face. “Do you know if I actually need to be there to do it? It was kind of awkward to see last time."

“I’m pretty sure she needs to be able to hear you, but we can try it from here. I’ll send her a text so we can see if this’ll work.” She got out her phone and after a minute, said “Ready when you are.”

Richard cleared his throat and said “Helena, you can stand up and meet us.”

They both sat in silence, waiting for the reply until it came on Hazel's phone. “Nope. It looks like we’ll need to meet her there.”

So they left his house. After they turned left, they passed a fountain. The statue spitting water out looked like a swan standing in a seashell, its wings outstretched and mouth open as it spat. He thought it was a strange choice, but had something more important to focus on.

“You know you don’t need to call me sir, right Hazel?” He said to her. He tried to keep his pace while looking at her face while he spoke.

“Yes sir. You’ve told me that before.” She said, a slight smile on her face as she replied.

“Can I ask why you still do it?"

“Just like with Ms.Turner, I try to do it to show my respect. You’re my bosses’ family."

“But I’m not Helena. You don’t report to me. You don’t need to use any fancy titles, you can just talk to me as equals.”

She stopped walking and he stopped a step after. She took off her sunglasses and looked at him at eye level. “Congressman, last night I was **** and told you were my new Master. Sir seems like a good compromise.“

He turned red. “Point taken. I just want to make sure you know you can call me whatever you want.” At this point, they continued walking and finally reached the door. She opened it wide to usher him in.

He liked his new house. It was wood and steel and filled with paintings. His house was bigger than the Arrow cottage, maybe thrice the size. But the Arrow cottage was clearly more beautiful. The floors were white marble and halfway up the walls it switched from plain marble to paint, swirling green plants on a yellow background. He looked up to the ceiling as he followed Hazel and saw that it was covered with tiles. Green, blue, yellow, orange, brown tiles formed flowers and swirls in the ceiling. The whole thing must have taken months if not years to set.

Hazel showed him to the bedroom, and the style continued there. More tilework lined the ceiling. There were two glass chairs next to the bed and television, and in the middle of the room sat Hazel on the bed. It was a four poster bed with thin curtains fluttering as if there was a slight breeze, and Helena’s temper flared just as he entered from once of the curtains brushing up against her

“Thank god you’re here Richard. Can you help me up?” She asked, waiting for his response and trying not to look too ****.

“Yeah, just walk with us to breakfast.” He tried to keep it casual and ignore the reason he needed to be here. Surprisingly, that phrasing of the command was enough. She got up and walked with him to the door, then the three of them left the Arrow cottage for the dining hall.

They were the second group to get to the dining hall. Dr.Petrov was at a bench with a bowl of cereal and a banana. Genet was standing at a table next to the kitchen while Felicia was complaining at her. As they came into the room, Richard tried to listen in.

“Even if you only have cereal, none of these are healthy. I wouldn’t let my patients eat these. Are you really telling me that Cinnamon Twist is the healthiest option you have?”

Genet put her hand to her forehead. “As I told you the first three times, the menu on date days is chosen based on the tastes of the contestant of the day, so you have a chance to get to know them better while they are busy with the master. For this morning you have three options for cereal, along with bananas and oranges. If you complain to me again about this I will start deducting BP, then VP. Are you done?” Felicia grumbled, but grabbed a pair of each fruit before going to one of the tables.

Helena, Hazel, and Richard glanced at the boxes of cereal on the table. Their choices were familiar to Richard from back when he and Aubrey had been living together. The Rainbow Wheels with the picture of the bus driving over the rainbow hadn’t been opened yet, while Cinnamon Twist and Pancake Punch!’s box looked like they’d had a serving taken out so far.

Helena asked Richard: “Do you have any advice? These all look terrible.”

Richard responded: “From what I remember, Rainbow Wheels and Cinnamon Twist aren’t as sweet as that one.” He pointed to the Pancake Punch! box. “Rainbow Wheels tastes better, but it does weird things to the milk if you don’t eat fast enough.“

Helena nodded before pouring the three of them each a bowl of Cinnamon Twist and leading them towards the table with Felicia. “How did you two sleep?”

It was Richard that answered first. “I don’t know how Genet did it, but she found the best bed I’ve ever slept in. The last time I slept in that late was that lock-in back in college you had to get me out of.”

Helena smiled at him. “That’s good to hear. Felicia?”

Felicia groaned. “We’ve got a goat problem.”

Hazel blinked “Did you say goat problem?"

“Yeah. The Stone cottage has a goat stationed outside. When it woke up and started screaming we were kind of done for the morning too.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Do you think you’ll still be alright for the marathon?”

Felicia nodded. “The goat is still better than residency. Once I get some coffee. I’ll be able to get into a flow.”

Richard asked, a bit confused, “What marathon are you guys doing?”

“We decided to split up and all watch as many of the challenges that Genet said we had access to, then compare notes to see if we can prepare for day 9.” Felicia explained. By the way, could one of us use your room to watch on a third screen? We should be out by 4.

“Yeah, that’s fine, just let me know if there’s anything you want to talk about for the challenge later.” Richard approved.

As he was talking, the door of the dining hall swung open and Aubrey stepped in. She was dressed much more casually today than last night with form-fitting jeans and a purple v-neck shirt.

“Are you ready?” Aubrey asked from behind him, trying to contain her excitement.

“Isn’t it supposed to start at 1? It’s not even 8am yet?” Richard asked her from his seat.

I checked with Genet this morning, the rule is that it has to start by 1. I’ve got a lot planned that I think you’ll want to see. Come on Dick, I can’t wait to show you everything!”

Richard gave Helena a look. She met his look and nodded, before signaling with a tilt of her head towards the teacher. Richard moved his bowl of half-eaten cereal next to her and grabbed a banana for the road before the two of them left for their second first date.