(Sibling 2 answers the phone)
Sibling 2: Hey – what’s up?
Sibling 1: Is that the first thing you think of when I call, that something’s wrong?
Sibling 2: Yes: you only call me when something’s wrong, otherwise you just e-mail or text or wait `til we meet in person.
Sibling 1: Oh. I never realized I was so predictably self-absorbed.
Sibling 2: Don’t trouble yourself – so, what’s up?
Sibling 1: Yeah, so you know how you helped me move into the house about a year ago now?
Sibling 2: Wow, it’s almost a year already? I feel like we did all that last weekend.
Sibling 1: Don’t get me started on time dilation –
Sibling 2: Don’t worry, I won’t.
Sibling 1: I’m calling because I really haven’t been here all that long, and there’s already a mess.
Sibling 2: Isn’t that just left over from the move?
Sibling 1: That was earlier: this is a whole new mess. The detritus of life, if you will.
Sibling 2: I’d rather not.
Sibling 1: Well, with the weather finally getting nicer, and Passover and Easter greeting us with the promise of renewal, and Ramadan right around the corner –
Sibling 2: Really? Seems early this year.
Sibling 1: It can fall on any month of the year since it’s based on a lunar calendar, so there is no “early.” Anyway, back to me: my brain’s finally registering that it is, at last, spring.
Sibling 2: If you say so – I’m still wearing sweaters every other day.
Sibling 1: And with spring, I feel that I should do the time-honored tradition of… Spring Cleaning.
Sibling 2: AHAHAHAHAHA – oh, you’re serious. Since when do you do Spring Cleaning? Or any kind of cleaning, for that matter?
Sibling 1: I clean! It’s just that the bare minimum I used to get away with at home isn’t going to cut it in my life anymore.
Sibling 2: Welcome to the Wonderful World of Home Ownership.
Sibling 1: Too late, I’ve been there for months. So, you in?
Sibling 2: On what? You’re taking forever to get to the point.
Sibling 1: Helping me Spring Clean the place on Saturday!
Sibling 2: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh – what time?
Sibling 1: Preferably before 10, and I’ll order pizza for lunch.
Sibling 2: I’ll be there at 8.
SATURDAY AT 8
(Sibling 1 opens the front door to Sibling 2)
Sibling 1: What’s all this?
Sibling 2: (Carrying a bulging trash bag) Supplies. I figured you might need extra cleaners, dusters, sponges, buckets –
Sibling 1: Whoa-whoa-whoa, this is just cleaning, not clean-ing.
Sibling 2: …I don’t follow.
Sibling 1: Come inside.
Sibling 2: (Enters as Sibling 1 closes the door behind them, stares at the living room, and drops the bag) What – ?! This is the same mess I left you with when you moved in!
Sibling 1: (Chuckles) How unobservant you are. That was all boxes of old stuff, which were conspicuously absent when you helped me decorate for the holidays in December. This – (Spreads arms to encompass the room) – is the accumulation of whole new stuff that pretty much all of us fall victim to in this consumerist world.
Sibling 2: Hardly anyone’s living room looks like this! You even bought an aquarium and don’t have any fish for it!
Sibling 1: It was a deal at a yard sale.
Sibling 2: You’re actually looking around to bring new junk in?!
Sibling 1: You gonna help me Spring Clean it all or what?
Sibling 2: (Sighs and takes off jacket) Yes, but you’re on your own for the actual cleaning that I thought was going to go on today.
Sibling 1: That’s fine; stuff like that’s a once-a-decade project anyway.
SIX HOURS LATER
Sibling 2: (Stands in the middle of the now-spacious house, hands on hips, satisfactorily surveying the domain) Well, it’s not perfect, but definitely an improvement over the original monstrosity.
Sibling 1: (While eating, hands a slice of pizza on a plate to Sibling 2) Yeah – I can actually walk a straight line through the place now, thanks.
Sibling 2: Just remember to give away some of those clothes in the closet when you change back over to winter – you don’t need that many shirts. Or pants. Or Halloween costumes.
Sibling 1: You never know when an emergency sartorial situation may strike.
Sibling 2: Sure. You got any soda?
Sibling 1: (Thinks while chewing) I believe there’s a can or two. (Both walk to the kitchen; Sibling 1 opens the refrigerator door and hunts for a can as Sibling 2 stares in horror)
Sibling 2: What – who – where – how did this happen?!
Sibling 1: What, the food? (Pops the tab and holds out the can)
Sibling 2: The food that’s everywhere! This fridge was brand new when you moved in, and now it’s covered in stains and crumbs and I-don’t-want-to-know-what-else!
Sibling 1: (Glances casually at the fridge and runs a finger over a sticky shelf) Huh. Didn’t notice in the day-to-day. Guess it could use a wipe here and there.
Sibling 2: It could use a power wash! Don’t you smell all the horrible, horrible odors combining into one giant STENCH?!
Sibling 1: No, but I have a bad sense of smell, you know that.
Sibling 2: (Storms off, grabs the bag of supplies, brings it into the kitchen, drops it onto the floor, pulls on a pair of gloves, and begins taking items out of the refrigerator and dumping them onto the kitchen table) Get some ice coolers if you can find any in that overflowing closet; get some bags of ice if you don’t have any packs in the freezer; and leave me alone for at least an hour!
Sibling 1: (Stares at the activity for a few moments while drinking the soda, then leaves to get the coolers; mutters to self) Doesn’t seem that bad. If this is what the season’s gonna have every time though, I think I’ll skip spring next year.
