Monday, August 16, 2010

Room #36

Recently, my brothers and I took a trip to Yellowstone. We picked a very rainy day making it almost impossible to fish. After a soggy day, we finally arrived at our motel in West Yellowstone at about 9:30 p.m. We had stayed at this motel 2 years earlier and kind of knew our way around. So, after checking in and getting our room (#36) key, we went back to our car to get our bags and then climbed up the stairs to the room. From our previous stay, we knew our room was upstairs and our host had said #36 was the last room on the end. At the top of the stairs, turning left, we came to room #40. Room #39 came next. After that: room #38. Then we came to room #37. But, alas, the next door had no # posted on the door, but it had to be #36 since it was the last room in the hall. I tried the key and sure enough the door opened. When we turned on the light we entered a very strange motel room. It had a large living room with several couches, a TV, a stove, and a refrigerator. Checking the bedroom, which was separated by a door, we found only one bed! Dang, one bed for 3 very tired travelers. "Oh well," we said, "she must have had to give us the left overs." We looked in the bedroom closet for extra bedding but only found torn, soiled, stained sheets, and an old bed spread. "Oh well," we said, "I guess it will have to do." So, Dave took the bed, Dan took the couch, and I took the floor. Dave and Dan took a shower before we retired but I was too tired from driving all day. We all went to sleep but were roused about 2:00 a.m. by a phone ringing. Dave and Dan thought it was my phone, but I knew it wasn't because my phone was dead. I figured it was one of their phones so I didn't worry about answering it. We went back to sleep but were awakened again at about 4:00 a.m. by a door opening and closing. Dan and I just thought it was Dave getting up to go to the bathroom. Dave figured it was one of us. At 6:00 a.m. Dan was sitting up reading when the door to our room opened and a slightly perturbed white haired fellow poked his head in and asked what the heck we were doing in his room! He went on to tell Dan that he was the maintenance man and stayed in the room from time to time. Dan asked why our room key worked and he said that he just left his room open since he didn't keep any personal stuff there. (There was no food in the fridge, no clothes in the drawers, no shaving kit, etc., which would have given us a clue that someone stayed there.) He also told Dan that our room was at the end of the hall just below his room but on the 1st floor. If we had gone down the stairs and looked, we would have seen it. So we gathered up our stuff, folded the soiled and torn sheets and bedspread, and high-tailed it down to room#36 where we found two queen sized beds and a sofa bed waiting patiently for us to arrive. Well, we didn't sleep in the beds, but I took a shower. Before we left, I decided to go talk to the motel owner to see if she had heard what had happened. She had. I apologized but she just said, "Did you really think I would put you in a room with one bed and no clean linen? Why didn't you call and check with me when you saw the room? What were you thinking?" I apologized and took responsibility. "It was our fault," I said.
"Yes, it surely was!" she agreed. "Please don't hold this against Mark and Halli. We are the 3 stooges not them." I saw a little smile on her lips when I turned to go. I felt the wind from the disgusted shake of her head as I went through the door of shame back to the car.