100 Cupboards by Nathan Wilson--Part 2

After Henry "scrubbed the bones," he got into bed. Mr. Wilson went out of his way to overstate the fact that H-Dawg's quarters were bare, dingy, and not altogether pleasant. Henry laid awake for a while, looking at a poster of the Kansas City University Baseball Team.

The book said that none of the men on the team looked athletic. I can testify to this. If you look up pictures of most of the KCU baseball teams, the players are not what we would call "athletic".

When he was finished staring at the poster, Henry turned the lamp (that barely worked) off. Then, he couldn't get to sleep because of the noise that the swamp cooler (a sort of AC unit, I guess) was making.

It should be noted for your benefit that the swamp cooler was packed in place with used overalls. I think this adds nicely to the ramshackle picture of H-Dawg's room that you probably have in your head by now. Continuing with the book...

Since H-Dawg wasn't sleeping, he heard a big bump that he otherwise wouldn't have heard (the moral of the story: get to bed on time). He jumped, but Mr. Wilson said it really wierd-like: "He landed gently on his bed before he even realized that he'd jumped in suprise."

I haven't decided if this is just a different/interesting way of saying something mundane, or just wierd.

Anyway, H-Dawg was freaked out. He tried to ignore that he was freaked out, but he couldn't. He decided that he was going to go to the bathroom, flush the toilet, and run water, in order to "wash his mind with normal noise" (please see the sentence prior to this paragraph). I sense something weird is about to happen. When Henry walked to the bathroom, he saw that the light was on. The book actually says "Henry put his hand out for the knob and froze. Someone was probably inside." No duh! For serious? I never would have thought that in a hundred years! (sarcasm hand raised) Anyway, since Henry hates conversations through bathroom doors, and he hates knocking, he decided to go sit on the stairs and wait.

Doesn't he know it's rude to wait outside the bathroom door for the current occupant to evacuate? Oh, that's right, his parents were probably in Africa writing about walking through tall grass.

As Henry was sitting on the stairs, being a wimp about the noise (which is why he is not currently being called "H-Dawg"), the knob turned. An old guy stepped out of the bathroom. He basically had a monk's haircut, with the hair growing out of the sides. He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt (ew) and a purple satin robe (*raises eyebrow*). Before he went downstairs, the old guy looked at Henry with "deep, black eyes". I hope Mr. Wilson knows that there is no such thing as black eyes.

Henry woke up on the stairs, and noticed that the bathroom door was open, with the light on. He used the bathroom, then went back to his bedroom. The book said that he knew he had forgotten something, but he went to sleep as soon as he realized it.

Closing Thoughts:

I vow never to go to the bathroom at night in a virtual stranger's house, especially after thinking about baseball.

Predictions:

We find out that the old guy was "Grandpa" of "Grandpa's room" and that he has mind-control powers that made Henry doze off. We also find out that the presumed "Grandpa" has a collection of satin robes in varying shades of pink, purple, and blue.

Mr. Thin's evil designs are made known.

Stuff that I accidentally left out, and then realized might be important later on:

Not much, actually. Well, Henry had a dream that he was playing baseball and a guy in a purple robe was watching. That may be important later...