“This place needs a through cleaning.” Looking at Anna, he said, “Stay here,” and motioned with both hands for her to stay while he went back down stairs to the laundry room.
Window cleaner, furniture polish, and a roll of paper towels were handy in a cupboard, and he returned to find Anna exactly where he had left her. “Anna, it’s time to clean this mess up.” Handing her the window cleaner, he tore off a paper towel, then laughed at her startled expression. “Here you go. Start on the windows.”
Anna just looked at him, then at the strange bottle and stranger cloth in her hands.
George was almost annoyed again, but caught himself. Of course she’s confused. Did they even have window cleaner or spray bottles here? Gently taking the bottle from her, he led her to the window and showed her how it worked. Her surprise gave way to an almost comical joy as he demonstrated how to wipe the windows, then handed her back the bottle. He watched as she cleaned the next window before returning to his own task.
The bookshelves in Dave’s room were mostly full, and George absentmindedly glanced at the titles as he dusted. Gunsmithing, cabinet making, herbal medicine, how-to encyclopedias, explosives… Explosives? What the hell was Dave doing with a book about explosives? The Anarchist’s Cookbook? Yikes. Dave really had been bonkers. He was just finishing the fifth shelf when he became aware of Anna standing at his side.
“Done are you? Well, let’s move on then. The bathroom next.” Dave’s room shared a bathroom with the next room over. That had been another reason that he had been given this room. George led Anna to the bathroom and opened the door, then quickly shut it. Dave’s collection of magazines was still there. Turning to Anna, he motioned toward the bed. “Let’s make up the bed instead.”
George simply stripped the bed by grabbing comforter, blanket and sheets all at once and pulling. Anna stared as the good quilted mattress was revealed, and George grinned.
“Never seen anything like that before, have you?” he asked rhetorically. He knew that she hadn’t, and that she couldn’t understand him anyway. “Let’s get these washing, and get fresh linen.” He turned and left the room, pausing only once to look back and jerk his head in an effort to get her to follow.
The laundry room was big by most standards. It had a large-capacity washer and dryer, along with a large, three-by-eight foot table for folding clothes. That had been installed at Mary’s insistence. Three of the four walls had cabinets mounted on them, and George grabbed a bottle of liquid laundry detergent from the one above the washer.
“Comforter first,” he said over his shoulder to a curious Anna. “I have sheets and blankets enough, but no more comforters.” He stuffed the comforter into the washer and turned on the water, smiling at Anna’s surprise. “You may think I’m crazy, Anna, but this beats the hell out of a washtub.” He added a capful of detergent and led her back out into the house.
“This is the linen closet,” he said as he opened a door. Shelves of neatly folded sheets, pillowcases, towels and blankets were arrayed in order from top to bottom. He grabbed a set of sheets and matching pillowcases and handed them to Anna. Then he grabbed a bright yellow blanket and headed back upstairs with Anna in tow.
Anna was delighted with the sheets, and her surprise at seeing the way the fitted sheet wrapped the mattress was enough to make George chuckle. He started to spread the blanket, but stopped and motioned for Anna to do it. When her fingers encountered the velvety material of the blanket she stopped and rubbed her cheek on it in sensuous pleasure.
George used her fascination with the blanket as an opportunity to slip into the bathroom and pick up Dave’s “collection.” The boy had had some… strange tastes. Things that his mother and father never would have dreamed of. But he had been an adult, and could make his own decisions. Quickly bundling the magazines together, he went into the next room and stashed them in a convenient box.