Uninvited Guest

            Mary’s family loves each other a lot. Well, if it’s not love, they tolerate each other a lot—which is sometimes the same thing. One of Mary’s aunts, Aunt Hilda, was particularly one of those people that love was shown by tolerating instead of running away. Aunt Hilda had a very flamboyant personality. She talked loudly, enthusiastically, and a lot.
            About a month after Mary’s wedding to Aaron, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Aunt Hilda decided to visit them in their new home. Mary and Aaron were sitting outside reading and enjoying the sun when Aunt Hilda rang the doorbell. They invited her to join them outside, but Aunt Hilda said that it was too bright and hot for her outside. They offered her something to drink, but they did not have any of the bottled water that Aunt Hilda insisted on drinking.
            Never the less, Aunt Hilda was supremely excited for she had the rolls of film developed from Mary and Aaron’s wedding and she wanted to show them. Aunt Hilda was old fashioned and would not use those new cameras. Instead, she used her old camera that took poor pictures, and she used it a lot. She had doubles printed so that she could give a set to the newlyweds and keep a set for herself. She had taken three rolls of film during the wedding and reception which may not sound like a lot, but she had to sort the pictures into hers and theirs. Then she had to put them in sequential order and label them. That would have been more easily done if it were easier to tell what they were pictures of.
            Mary was used to her aunt and patient with her. Aaron started out patient, but after an hour of organizing blurry pictures, he needed a break from Aunt Hilda. Aaron excused himself to go to the bathroom. While in the bathroom, he could still hear Aunt Hilda’s loud voice. He knew he would need a longer break if he were going to continue to be nice to here. He decided to organize the towels in the bathroom cabinets. When that was finished, he drummed his fingers together and looked around to see what else he could organize.
            At a point, he realized there was nothing left to organize in the bathroom, but Aunt Hilda’s voice wafting down the hallway still annoyed him. He needed to spend some more time away from her, but what to do? He opened the cabinets once again. There were the organized towels, bathroom supplies, and Mary’s facial kit. Aaron was desperate. He read the directions on the bottles. Aunt Hilda was still in their house, talking at full volume as always. He took a deep breath. There was nothing left to do. Until Aunt Hilda left, he followed the directions on the various bottles.
            Ever since that warm afternoon, Aaron made sure that there were always magazines in the bathroom. Just in case.