Chapter 62
Originally Titled—Cookie Crumbs, Critters & Crud!
I’ve stomped, ranted, raved, tore at my hair, and turned blue in the face in an attempt to get my daughters to keep their room clean.
Much to my dismay all my efforts have been in vain so this week I determined to clean the room myself.
Come Jimmy Carter, The Avon lady or a summer snowstorm, the room was going to be cleaned!
Since the room had the appearance of something an animal might live in I equipped myself with a brand-new box of garbage bags, and a scoop shovel.
I found the other half of at least a dozen pairs of socks, missing pieces of every game, toy, and puzzle in the house, half a box of cookies, six coke cans, a whole writing tablet torn to shreds, two pairs of pajamas and three outfits.
Then I looked under the other twin beds!
I was sitting flat on the floor, getting ready to drag out another bushel of junk when this creature brushed past me.
Thinking it was a mouse, which in my imagination is a shade bigger than King Kong and squeaks like a lion, I grabbed the scoop shovel, landed in the middle of the bed, and commenced to scream—all in a split second!
Now that I look back on the situation I have to admit that it MIGHT have been a figment of my overactive imagination and I’m not really sure what kind of critter it was.
But what I thought I saw when I’d stopped hollerin’ and chanced a look in that direction was a streak of something kind of purple colored, with flashing red eyes.
The back screen door was open when I found the courage to get off the bed, so I suppose the weird little fellow decided to find a quieter home.
At any rate, the experience taught me some valuable lessons.
The first one is that I’m going to make my daughters do their own rooms, no matter how much gripping it takes!
The second is to never again tell my family about odd little animals.
The girls thought I was trying to scare them into keeping the room clean.
My husband gave me two aspirins, and my son asked me if I need to rest for a while!