Young Peeping Tom…

Young Peeping Tom…
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

 

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee…. Summer of 2013

I decided to fill the old, porcelain bathtub at Grandma Alma’s house with water. I wanted to take a bath; I was so hot. I had been playing hard outside with my cousins.

The tub began filling with cold water. I knew it was going to be hard to make myself sit down in it. It was going to take my breath away. I wished for hot water… at Grandma Alma’s house, there was only cold water.

I never paid attention to the window behind the bathtub. I began undressing… laying my clothes neatly on the commode seat. I was being very careful to not let them touch the floor.

I put one foot over the side of the bathtub… oh my God, it was so cold! I didn’t know if I could stand getting into the cold water… I wasn’t so overheated that it felt that good!

I sat on the side of the old porcelain tub… both of my feet were in the water. I was taking deep breaths… I was going to sit down all at once in the cold water… oh, how I dreaded it!

My feet were freezing… I stood up. I almost stepped back out of the tub… but, I’d come too far. I knew if I could go ahead, just sit down… I could get used to the cold.

I lost my breath with a gasp… I began splashing cold water on my shoulders, my face. Might as well get it over with… I wanted to take a bath!

Looking back to that day… I can see I was too young to know to heat water in a pan to add to the cold water. I was eleven-twelve years old. The thought never entered my mind. Just as the thought never entered my mind to close the curtains on the window behind the bathtub.

I sat in the cold water… it felt good once I got past the initial shock. I began lathering up the bath cloth. I made it very soapy. I loved sudsy water; I loved the scent of bath soap.

I was daydreaming as I bathed… my eyes were closed. I heard a sound to my right, where the bathroom window was. I opened my eyes…

Staring into the window was a boy who was visiting, playing with my cousins! I cried out… my face felt very hot. He ran away…

I was so embarrassed! I didn’t know how long he had stood there looking into the bathroom window. The spell was broken… I got out, toweled off, dressed. I knew I could never look that boy in the face again!

Time went by, the boy never spoke to me… nor I, to him. I was thankful. Every time I saw him… my face would get hot.

My life as a child was in turmoil constantly… other things quickly filled my mind until I never thought about it again.

That was one of the most embarrassing times of my young life. It was also, when I became aware of being seen through a window…