Tessie D

It’s been almost four weeks since I moved to Brownwood, three weeks starting at the dairy.

I moved into a house near the college that’s in town. The house is older — it’s one of those short, flat houses with small square windows with air conditioning units in each of them. But, it’s brick and has four bedrooms. Which means that it’s already nicer than the trailer house. I live with three other girls, Danielle, Mariah, and Sammy. I like my roommates but I still feel on the outside looking in. Their problems — boys, clothes, parties — seem silly and I am having a hard time connecting. So, I’ve just been staying in my room, going to work, and driving around town or down the country roads. They go to college during the day and like to party at the bar in the evening. So, the house is, for the most part, pretty quiet.

Most days, I get up early and bring my breakfast and lunch with me to work. I like to eat at the table in the kitchen, looking out the window at the sky and fields stretched out in front of me. Sky is bleached pale and the heat radiates off the glass. The air is drier and it feels hotter, somehow. But, I don’t care. 

The dairy reminds me of being at home and helps me feel less homesick and lonely.

I am able to finish most of my work by lunchtime and afternoons sometimes drag, so I write here or read books that I checked out from the library and write short little stories and poems. Surprisingly, none of the work is all that hard. Daddy always made it seem like finding and keeping a job was so hard, but I’m starting to realize the maybe it was never that hard after all.