Unpromised Home

household chores and shopping

'in which you go to buy groceries'

You glance up in confusion as Vivian slams her hands down on the table. Justin glances up from his newspaper as you pick up your cup of coffee. She sits down in the vacant chair as you take a sip from your mug.

"Can we help you...?"

"Yes." Her nod was sharp and deliberate as she lays her hands across the table like she was about to make you the deal of a lifetime, "Yes you can."

"With...?"

"Ah... Uhm. I want to buy the dress."

"What dress?"

"You're going to get the dress?!" You exclaim, sitting up straighter in your chair. The dress had been prominent in conversation since last weekend. Vivian was questioning if she actually wanted the dress she saw in the window all those weeks ago. Your argument was that if she was thinking about it this hard she definitely wanted it. It's not like she isn't allowed to splurge money every once in a while either, so you had been mostly trying to convince her to just go for it whenever it was brought up.

"Yes!"

"Okay..." Justin stared at the two of you as if you had both just plotted murder in front of him, "Again, what dress?"

"Oh, it's this really pretty one from one of the stores downtown" Vivian sighs, "It's quite expensive but it's just... Agh!" She slams her head down on the table. She groans as you pick up your coffee mug again, only to realize it was empty. With a huff, you set the cup back down.

"Are you okay?" Justin sets his paper down, staring at his sister with confusion and concern.

"I'm fine!" She mumbles into the collar of her shirt, "It's a really expensive dress."

Justin sighs, standing from his chair. He disappears into the front entrance for a few moments before returning, wallet in hand. Sitting back down, he pulls a few bills from his wallet. Vivian's eyes light up at the sight.

"You can have this, but," She sits at attention as Justin speaks, "You need to clean the house."

"Just clean the house?" She scoffs playfully, "That'll be easy."

"Fully clean the house. That means dusting all the shelves too."

"Still!" He sets the bills down on the table in defeat, "It'll just be time-consuming more than anything."

"I guess so." He picks his newspaper back up. You take note of the headline. You sigh as you glance out the window. Small snowflakes danced on the other side of the transparent glass.

The Soviet Union had invaded Finland. How incredibly fun. You despised how fast everything seemed to be moving. You swear only moments ago it was June and you were panicking about a calculus test. Now it's November several decades in the past during the second world war. Oh, how wonderful this was.

"Oh [Name]?" Vivian called to you from the hall leading to the bathroom, "Could you give me a hand here?"

"Sure!" Anything is better than properly acknowledging current events. Standing from your chair, you move to the sink before placing your mug down in the bottom. Walking out of the kitchen you join Vivian in the door frame of the bathroom. Before speaking she hands you a folded towel.

"Can you stick that on the top shelf in the closet?" With a nod, you walk down the hall to the aforementioned closet. Opening the door, you stand on your tiptoes placing the towel on top of the small stack.

As Vivian begins to hum you return to the bathroom. You watch her quietly as she wipes down the counter and shelves along with the vanity mirror. As she opens the vanity to clean the edges, she turns to look at you again.