Soap

I studied and then I headed into the bathroom to take a shower. I reached into the shower, and got the water running. I was about to highstep into the clawfoot tub when I realized that I needed another bar of soap.

When I went through the things at my mother's house last month, I took her soap. Sounds funny, doesn't it? It was a brand I like, but when I buy it for myself, it is generally something I do to treat myself. It's more expensive then the soap I usually buy. She had bought a six bar package of it. Two bars were missing. Impulsively, I took the package with the remaining four bars of soap.

I've been using that soap, and I've been thinking of my mother. Today, when I realized that I needed to grab soap, I stepped back from that tub and reached for the shelf. When I grabbed that package of soap from the bin, I realized that there was one bar left. One.

I stood holding it as the bathroom steamed up. I thought, "Mom bought this soap never dreaming that she would not live to use it up." For some reason, that made me sad. I threw away the plastic wrapping that the six bars of soap came in, but I put the box with the last bar of soap back in the bin. I grabbed a bar of aloe soap, highstepped over the clawfoot tub, and took my shower.

I don't know if I can bring myself to use that last bar of soap. And for the life of me, I don't know why.