Beloved Sister

I traveled to Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills to find the exact room
in which our beloved sister passed to the next world.
She who had serenaded me and my lover so many times.
Who? Our sister Whitney of course.
No one would tell me which was the room she died in.
I left the concierge and walked out side
A dark hispanic, Hector, was smoking an unknown brand between his brown stained fingers.
We conversed, my Spanish was not good but suitable.
He was from Costa Rica and yes he knew which room it was.
"It will cost you $100."
I palmed him a crisp bill folded into a tiny packet smaller than a tea bag.
"Come." I followed him inside. He held the pass key.
"I'll be back, two hours, don't worry, they never rent this one"

I sat on the bed for a while. I opened the drape. Sun filled the room.
I went into the bath room. A large room consisting of three parts.
A large glass doored shower, a toilet with its own door and a huge bath tub.
I went back into the bed room.
I disrobed and left my clothing folded neatly on the bed.
Naked, I returned to the bath room.
The tub was very large and cold, over 70 inches long.
I found the faucets at the end of the tub, growing out of the top.
The water ran cold, then hot and trickled into the basin, first slowly and then with force.
I watched it fill, making sure the textured steel plug in the bottom was twisted closed.
At first I wasn't sure if the water was escaping. I turned off the water and watched but there was no vortex, the tub was sealed
Being so huge, 20 inches in depth and wide enough to fit the Emperor Nero, it took a while to fill half way.

Satisfied the water was warm enough but not too hot, I carefully climbed in, trying not to slip.
I lay back and with my toe strained forward to push the hot facet handle so a tiny trickle of scalding water gently flowed into the filled tub to keep the temperature even.
There was no safety bar, no place to grab. The tub was of heavy porcelain.
I lay back, adjusting my body so my head rested on the rear ledge where the warm water bathed the hair on the back of my head.
I read a paperback by Gaiman. I read of Gods on a giant merry go round.
As a child, I'd envied those old enough to ride the steeple chase, a sort of horse race on sculpted merry go round steeds.
I read for a while, the yellow light made it difficult.
Having bathed long enough, I folded back the page and slid the book on the sink partition.

The tub was so deep and so full that when I tried to bend forward my body became buoyant and with difficulty I adjusted myself to reach the steel stopper.
The stopper was hard to turn, it took a man's strength, then the water released slowly and departed.
With effort I tried to exit. The tub was as slick as a razor blade.
I crossed my legs to gain a foothold. In desperation I lunged forward and grasped the faucet.
The doors closing the room were so thick that a cry for help would not be heard.
Carefully I tried to rise, the water was gone, the tub still wet but empty.
I stepped over the thick walled tub and set my foot carefully onto the cold tile.
it was obvious the deep tub was a death trap, far to deep for bathing
I dried myself with a towel and a hair drier. I dressed and awaited Hector's return.
He came in whistling a latin tune.
"Come." We exited in the service elevator, I thanked him, "Adios senior."

Later that same afternoon I researched the designer of the tub. I called a factory sales office in Erlanger,Kentucky and enquired who had designed it.
They said that information was confidential.
I started reviewing old press releases on the internet, going out 14 times from the present entry.
There I found an old press release on the internet with the designers name.
When I googled his name, no surprise. His obituary said he died in a tub of his own making.
Blessed sister Whitney, Hector said there was blood on the ridge of the tub.
Perhaps you fell back, stunned you slipped into the well?
Perhaps the drugs you used life long finally caught up with you?
Or was it some wild heart throb that beckoned you to the next world?
No doubt you sing to please the Lord while we all here below miss you so!