What the crap is the deal with the missing socks! Honest’tagod… I think the little one knows what’s going on.

Day 25 of Flash Fiction February, 29 brand new stories in 29 days. It’s a little bit of a journey. I’ve learned a lot about writing in short formulas, how to podcast, how to produce my podcast and how to organize the process for efficiency.

Thank you for the follow Crudamente, a photographer from Argentina in Berlin. Thank you Substack for exposing us to brilliant people.

It’s laundry day at the Smith family home. It’s a big day here. It’s the big convergence. On the first Sunday of the month, house cleaning and laundry are part of the schedule. Everyone stays home and gets the work done.

Everyone is busy. Little Mary is responsible for all the interior windows. Her biggest brother, Billy, is on the exterior windows. They make faces at each other while they work.

John and Dave are in charge of the floors and the stairs. They vacuum and mop, and they don’t forget to start in the corners and around the edges, so there’s no buildup.

Mom and dad are dusting everything, cleaning the drapes, airing out the furniture cushions, and dealing with all kinds of details. They are also, of course, commanding the troops. They are taking care of the laundry as well, which the family will fold together in the living room after all the chores are done, just before dinner.

Sisters Sally and Amy are out in the yard. They’re raking, sweeping, mowing, and doing some lawn edging. They're glad it’s their turn to do the outside chores this week.

As Sally is sweeping out near the corner of the gangway next to the house, she sees something near the dryer vent. She can’t quite make out what it is. She thinks it’s a squirrel, or maybe a bird flapping around. It is hard to tell because there were such quick movements, and then it was gone.

She continues up that sidewalk, sweeping and singing this week’s Taylor Swift song. It’s a really nice day. This family doesn’t use stupid leaf blowers that blow the dust all over all the clean things while removing it from the dusty things. She’s glad about that, too. She’s glad she’s from a smart family.

As Sally gets closer to the dryer vent, she hears a noise. She calls her sister to see if she can help figure it out. They look around, put their ear near the vent, and it’s just the sound of the warm, damp air coming from the vent and the gentle flapping of the vent cover.

As soon as they begin walking away, back to their respective chores, they hear the noise again. It sounds like there is something inside the vent, as if there is something in the exhaust duct. They come back to the area, and the noise stops.

They figure maybe it’s something bouncing around in the dryer, and the sound is coming through. Again, they walk away from the vent. Sally continues sweeping her way past the vent, and Amy goes back to edge the lawn.

Sally is finishing up the gangway; she’s up near the back yard now. As she turns around, she sees something in the corner of her eye, but as she focuses her attention, she can’t see what it is. She confers with Amy. They can’t figure it out. The vent is pointing downward, and there is a vent flap. That makes a different noise.

They are perplexed, but let’s face it, it’s not their problem. They’re only looking to finish chores, fold the laundry, and have a nice Sunday dinner with their family. They walk back to the front of the house together, and as they get on the other side of that vent, they hear scratching, and this time Amy swears she saw a blurry movement in her periphery as she turns.

The two of them give up on this quandary and make some jokes with Billy, who is washing the windows. They make faces at their little sister, who is on the other side of the window. Eventually, all these chores are done, and it’s time to go in and fold laundry.

Everyone has cleaned themselves up and washed their hands well. They convene in the living room for the final work of the day before they get to sit down to a huge chicken dinner and then movies, ice cream, and popcorn for the rest of the evening.

As they are folding laundry, just like every single Sunday, mom notices that so many socks are missing. It never fails. Sometimes she even uses safety pins to keep them together, to no avail. There are always socks missing. They discuss it.

Dad jokes that it’s a feminist conspiracy plot from days of old, and there are still a lot of angry ladies that keep up the tradition. He and Mom laugh together across the room. Billy thinks if he takes the dryer apart, he’ll find a dozen odd socks. Little Mary thinks it’s all just a game.

Sally and Amy tell the rest of the family about their experience out in the gangway. The family just figured the noises were from a squirrel or one of the local pet cats that roam the neighborhood. Dad says that old houses make noises. Billy says he’ll take a look at the duct-work to see if he can fix it.

Meanwhile, in another dimension, some Faeries are having nice naps in warm socks.

The End

Keywords:

Family chores

Laundry day

House cleaning

Sibling dynamics

Household tasks

Mysterious noises

Missing socks

Home maintenance

Sunday routine

Faeries

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