Golden

The Grand Monarch Hotel lay in golden stupor on a quiet sunny Sunday afternoon. Fountains in the marble lobbies gurgled endless white noise, conversations with concierges were held in near whispers, quiet music played from undetectable speakers. Light came through the windows golden, soft and directionless.
Lee was only nine years old but his parents left him in the large hotel room by himself while they went to the lounge to drink expensive drinks and remember what it was like to be newly married and especially in love. Lee knew that hotel room food was very expensive so he waited an hour before helping himself to both chocolate bars. The first one he ate in less than a minute, cartoons playing on the television and a breeze ruffling the curtains on its way through the open balcony doors. The second he put in his pocket for later.
The hotel room phone was fascinating to Lee. It was polished white with some gold and looked very expensive, and when he picked up the receiver he liked how heavy it was and liked that the numbers were on a circular dial instead of in a grid. There was a gold plate screwed right into the bedside table below the telephone that said “Dial 0 for Concierge.”
Lee spun the ring in an almost full circle to dial “0” and held the receiver to his head with both hands. There was one ring on the other end of the line before a voice spoke.
“This is the concierge, how may I assist you?” The voice said. Near whisper.
“How do I call rooms?” Lee asked. He tried to sound older than he was because he thought an adult would not give advice to a very young child.
“To call other rooms you first dial nine and then dial the room number. I can connect you to a room if you wish, sir.” Lee liked being called “sir.”
“No thank you.”
“Is there anything else I can help you with this afternoon?”
“No.” Lee wished the concierge would call him “sir” again.
“Have a good afternoon, sir.”
“Thank you.” Lee smiled and hung up the phone.
Lee didn’t know anyone else staying in The Grand Monarch but he wanted to make a phone call so he picked up the receiver again, spun a 9, thought for a minute, and then spun out 1-3-8-8 on the dial. There was a ring on the other end of the line and another and another. The cord of the telephone was very long and Lee walked to the television and turned it off with the receiver still pressed to his ear, still ringing on the other end. Lee walked back to the small table, pushed the cradle down with his finger, still holding the receiver in his hand, and the other end of the line cut off. He dialed another 9 and then, looking at the small gold letters under each number on the dial, spelled out H-O-P-E on the phone. 4-6-7-3. He hoped someone would answer.
There were two rings on the other end of the line before the telephone was answered and a young girl said, “Hello.” A statement, not a question.
“Hello?” A question. Lee was excited. “Hello who are you?”
“You called my phone.” The girl said. She still did not ask.
“I’m Lee.” He said.
“I’m Lauren.” She said. “I don’t know you.”
“I’m here with my parents. The concierge told me how to call other rooms, he’s the man at the desk on the first floor.”
“I know what a concierge is.”
“They have good television channels at this hotel.” Lee said.
“I know. I think so too.” The girl who said her name was Lauren did not sound like she was in a rush to hang up. Lee imagined that she was lying on the carpet of her hotel room staring at the ceiling neither bored nor excited about talking on the phone. Just talking.
“Do you take food from the fridge in your room.”
“No.”
“I do. I know it’s expensive but it looked so good. You should try the chocolate bar, just don’t tell your Mom and Dad.” Lee wanted someone else to do as he had done.
“Look, my Dad will let me have one if I want. I’ve had one before, alright, I just don’t like them, and anyway my Mom isn’t here.”
“Oh.” Lee said. “I didn’t ask my Dad or Mom if I could have one. I think they would say no. They’re not here right now.”
“My Dad says I can go to the pool area.” Lauren said. “Because there is a fence around it.” She still asked no questions, but Lee wondered if she was suggesting a meeting.
“Do you want to meet at the pool?” Lee asked.
“Yes.” Lauren said. “I’ll go down there in ten minutes.”
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”


Lee looked around the pool at all the hotel guests enjoying the sunshine. He had left the room without telling his parents because they had not come back from the lounge yet and he thought that they should be like the girl Lauren’s Dad who let her eat the chocolate bars and explore the hotel when she wanted. The second chocolate bar from his room was still in his pocket.
Two fat people were asleep in lawn chairs by the pool and they were not wearing very much even though they did not look good not wearing very much and Lee thought they should be aware of that.
Four girls sat in lawn chairs in a row also not wearing very much but Lee thought that these girls looked nice not wearing very much and even though they weren’t in the pool he liked their swimsuits and noticed that they had very tan skin. He thought that they did not look as old as his mother but they did not look as young as the girls he knew at school so he decided that they must be something besides a child or a grown up. Three of the girls had magazines and the other one had a book. Lee thought that the magazines looked boring and the book was much bigger than he would ever want to read. One of the girls read something out of her magazine to the other three girls but Lee couldn’t hear what she said. He heard them all laugh though, and he could see all their teeth, which were white and looked very pretty.
On other side of the pool from the four beautiful girls another girl was asleep on a chair. She had dark sunglasses on and there was a dog lying next to her chair with a handle strapped to his back, which Lee knew meant she was blind and the dog helped her. The dog was a black Labrador and Lee thought it looked very healthy.
Someone tapped on Lee’s shoulder and he turned around. The girl who tapped on his shoulder had blond hair and blue eyes and was as tall as he was. Neither of them said anything for ten seconds. The girl blinked her eyes because it was sunny and she did not have sunglasses.
“You’re Lee.” She said. She stopped blinking and instead squinted at Lee.
“Yes.” Lee said. “Are you Lauren?”
“Yes.”
“Are you staying on the fourth floor?”
“Yes.” Lauren said. She looked past Lee to observe the pool and the people around it. Lee wanted Lauren to ask him a question of some kind, because he didn’t think she was very interested in him and he was very interested in her.
“I know because I dialed your room number and the number started with a four and I that means the fourth floor.” Lee wanted her to ask him why he dialed her number of all numbers, and then he would tell her that he had spelled out H-O-P-E on the phone and then she would think he was very clever.
“I didn’t bring my swimsuit because I already went swimming this morning and I don’t want to go again.” Lee hadn’t thought of going swimming that afternoon because he didn’t have a swimsuit anymore after leaving it at the last hotel in Boston.
“I brought the chocolate bar from my hotel room if you want some of it.” Lee said. He took the chocolate bar out of his pocket and felt that it was getting soft because of the heat of his body and because it was a warm day outside.
“I don’t like those chocolate bars.” Lauren said. Lee turned and looked back at the four beautiful girls reading. Then he looked back to Lauren.
“Maybe those girls over there want it.” He said.
“Maybe they do.” She said.
“How old do you think they are?” Lee asked.
“They look older.” Lauren said looking over to the four girls. “They are probably in college.”
“Oh.” Lee said, trying to look like he was thinking about what Lauren just said. He didn’t think much of college or how old people in college were. “How old are you?” He asked.
“I’m not telling you.” Lauren said without sounding angry or mean or tricky or anything besides relaxed.
“Oh.” Lee said. He thought about not telling her how old he was. “I’m nine.” He said. “You have to dial nine before you can dial a room number on the phone. That’s how I dialed your room.”
“That’s interesting.” Lauren said.
“Should I give this chocolate bar to those girls or not?” Lee asked.
“It’s your chocolate bar, you can do whatever you want.” Lauren looked Lee in the eyes when she said this. She did not look like she liked the four girls reading by the pool.
“Do you think they should be wearing more than they are?” Lee asked. He wanted to see if Lauren would say something bad about the girls.
“It’s up to them.” She said. “That girl over on the other side is blind.”
“I know.” Lee said, trying to sound like this was not noteworthy. “I saw her dog’s handle.”
“I bet her dog is really well trained.” Lauren mused.
“Dogs are allergic to chocolate, you know?” Lee said, holding up the chocolate bar for her to see.
“I know.” She said. “It will kill them if they eat it.”
“I bet chocolate doesn’t kill them if they eat it.” Lee said, pointing to the fat couple who were still asleep in the sunshine. He laughed at his own joke, but mostly watched Lauren to see if she thought it was funny.
Lauren laughed a small laugh but Lee thought that it was a courtesy laugh and he imagined that if she really laughed it would be louder and more real.
“I wonder if that blind dog will know not to eat chocolate.” Lee said.
“Probably not.” Lauren said. “It would be terrible to kill a blind girl’s dog.”
“I’m going to see if he will.” Lee said. He wanted Lauren to tell him no and to take the chocolate bar out of his hand.
“It would be really terrible to kill a blind person’s dog.” Was all she said.
Lee looked her straight in the eyes but didn’t say anything else. He walked toward the blind girl, who was still asleep, and he could hear that Lauren was slowly following him but keeping her distance at the same time.
The dog’s front paws were crossed and his head was resting on them. Lee got down on hands and knees and inched toward the dog, the chocolate bar held in his right hand. The dog lifted its head and looked at Lee with tired eyes. Lee thought that he should crawl away, but when he looked back Lauren was standing ten feet away watching him and he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
Lee got up on his knees, took the wrapper off the chocolate bar, and looked up at the girl in the lawn chair who was still fast asleep. He poked the melting chocolate bar at the dog, who pulled his head away and didn’t open his mouth. Lee poked the bar out further hoping that the dog would take it and also hoping that he wouldn’t. He pushed the bar right against the dog’s snout, smearing warm chocolate on its nose. The dog exhaled in a gruff sneeze and Lee looked back to see Lauren walking away frustrated. He got to his feet and ran after her.
“Hey! Where are you going?” He asked.
“I can’t believe you would try that.” She said. She sounded angry. Lee was glad that she was angry, but worried that she would leave.
“What?”
“She’s never even seen her dog.” Lauren said. “She can’t see anything. How would it be if she found her dog dead and she couldn’t even see it?”
“I don’t know.” Lee said. He felt sheepish. “I offered to give it to those girls over there.”
“They probably don’t want candy from a little boy.” Lauren said. She was trying to hurt his feelings, Lee thought. He wanted to say something to her but she turned and ran through the double doors into the hotel.
Lee threw the chocolate bar into a trashcan and licked his fingers off. He wished Lauren would come back and talk to him. He didn’t want to go back to his room. He looked across the pool at the four girls and he slowly walked over to the one who was reading the book. She had brown hair and it was tied up on top of her head with some kind of ribbon.
She looked up from her book and saw Lee standing near her chair looking shy.
“Hello.” She said.
“Hi.” He said.
“How are you today?”
“I’m good.”
“What’s up?”
“I’m just wondering something.” Lee wanted to ask her a question and she smiled at him to encourage him. He noticed her teeth again because they were perfect.
“What are you wondering?”
“If you’re blind can you still cry?”