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It was the first and only time I would cross the dusty wooden porch and step inside the faded yellow trailer. Hot vile air exploded in my lungs; the suffocating stench was overpowering. Nausea invaded my body, causing me to trip on a pile of dirty t-shirts and discarded beer cans. Rubbish was pushed aside to make a narrow path on the grimy floor. Piles of unwashed dishes, old pizza boxes and crumpled newspapers filled the sink and overflowed onto the counter and floor. Down the hallway was an open bedroom door; a car engine was sunk down in the mattress. Grease and oil stained the sheets and blankets of the unmade bed. The bathroom was very small and grimy, barely room for your knees between the tub and toilet. Repulsion overwhelmed me as I unfastened my Levis. My lungs, stomach and throbbing head begged for escape; my bladder wouldn?t allow it. Facing a tub completely full of filthy laundry, I sat on the toilet. I cringed as I felt the warm, oily, and gritty surface of the toilet seat. A cockroach seemed to smirk at me as he climbed from beneath the rumpled rug. If nature calls again in Ralph?s neighborhood, I will defy all etiquette and brave the scorching, barren, Arizona landscape.
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