Free Cheapskate in Love by Skittle Booth Page B

strength to raise his head a little, he had
allowed her to put the pills in his mouth and drank two cups of water from the
glass that she held to his lips. She could see from the way he greedily slurped
up the contents of the first glass that he was thirsty, so she demanded that he
have another glass. Like a sick child, he submitted without any argument,
although his mouth contorted itself into a slight pout at being told what to
do. Within minutes of finishing the second glass of water, he had slipped into
the world of dreams.
    Jonathan was waiting at the door to lock Bill’s apartment,
after Helen finished administering the medicine. But Helen thought she should
stay a while, watching Bill, in case a more serious problem appeared. She told
Jonathan she would remain, until Bill woke up and confirmed that he was feeling
better.
    “That’s very nice of you,” Jonathan said. “Call me if you
need help. I hope he appreciates what you’re doing for him.”
    “Thanks, Jonathan,” Helen answered. “He should, but whether
he will is another question. Guys find it hard to be grateful. It rubs their
ego the wrong way.”
    “That sounds about right,” he replied, closing the door, not
thinking that what she said might apply to him. “He can have a fat head.”
Jonathan hustled back to the front desk and resumed playing a game on his cell
phone.
    Left alone in the apartment, Helen finally had an
opportunity to look around and see what was there. Before she had been unable
to notice much in her rush to help Bill and had only received a vague
impression that the place was rather disorganized and dirty. A very brief tour
of the dining area, living area, kitchen, bathroom, and closets strengthened
her initial opinion into a certainty. “God, what a pig,” she said to herself.
“No woman has been in here for a while, unless it was a sow.” Right then, a
rude animal sound startled her, and she momentarily thought a sow might
actually be in the apartment, concealed in the clutter, but when she heard the
sound again she perceived that it came from the top of the bed. Bill had begun
to snore.
    To pass the time until Bill awoke, Helen looked for
something to read. There was no bookcase in the apartment, and at first she
couldn’t see any books, except a bible and some religious volumes. But by
searching through the litter on top of the dining table, she discovered a book, How to Be a Billionaire .
An involuntary laugh burst out of her. She wondered how far Bill was on his way
to becoming a billionaire. There didn’t seem to be any signs of his success in
the apartment. She looked at him sleeping and couldn’t detect any mega-rich
glow emanating from his body. Not that there would be, she thought, if by some
chance he became wealthy. She had observed well-to-do people, people born into
mounds of money or lucky in their career, and most of the time she thought
average working-class people made a better impression than they did. Since she
didn’t know how to become a billionaire, she thought it might be worthwhile to
read the book, although she wasn’t interested in adopting any new precepts for
herself. Maybe in the future she could quiz Bill about his money-making progress.
    With the book, she went to the couch and sat down. To her
alarm, she sank further toward the floor than she expected; she wondered how
difficult it was going to be to stand up again. Why would anyone keep such a
worn-out piece of cheap furniture, she asked herself. Especially a want-to-be
billionaire, she thought, remembering the book. She laughed again. Soon she was
paging through the book, reading as well as she could amidst Bill’s thunderous,
rhythmic snoring, which was like the crashing of the surf on a rocky beach.
    After a few chapters, she grew tired of the simplistic rules
and clichés of the book and threw it aside. “No one’s going to become rich
reading that,” she said aloud. “The only person who’s going to benefit from
that book is