"Waaaaaaa!!!!!!" My sons, Timothy and Rory were crying when I finished getting dressed and I made my way up the stairs. As I walked up them, I looked down and thought about how I should mop them.
I stepped over my 7 year old's pants and a few library books, a plate from dinner, two Halloween costumes, my husband's shoe, an unused diaper, and then finally at the top, my 7 year old's pair of underwear, making me think she probably wet her pants in the middle of the night and took them off as she ascended the stairs.
I turned to the right and there were my sons. Twins. They had the only clean room in the house because I had managed to clean it before they went to bed. They were no longer crying as they saw me, they began jumping on their bed. Timothy had on a car pajama and Rory had on a dinosaur one.
They were almost 3. Mama! They exclaimed with excitement as I entered, reaching up for me to pick them up, which I did. One on each hip, I felt the soggy diaper of Rory touch my waist and cringed. I shifted my grip so that his legs were dangling to avoid the diaper touching me, and then began climbing over the mess in the hallway to head downstairs again.
Once we reached the bottom, Rory wiggled from my grasp because he knew what was coming. "Aaaaahhhhh!!!" He exclaimed excitedly as he avoided me changing his diaper. Timothy took the opportunity to head to the kitchen and set his emptied bottle on the counter. "Baba!! He yelled. "Bababababababababa!!!!!!"
I ignored him while I caught ahold of his brother and tried to hold his legs in place long enough to get his new diaper on. He followed me. "Baba!" He demanded, throwing it at me.
"Ok ok!" I said hurriedly, "We need your daiper first!"
He realized that it was true and squealed, turning around suddenly to flee.
"Gotcha!" I caught him by the back of his pajamas and scooped him up to playfully toss him into the bed. He kicked and squirmed at me until his new daiper was on before wiggling away to join his brother.
I washed and filled his bottle when I was done and handed it back to him, turning on the television for a minute so I could make breakfast.
Ding! dong!
The doorbell rang and it interrupted me. I was washing the dishes that I needed to cook with. For some reason they were the only ones in the sink.
knock knock knock knock knock.
I dried off my hands on a towel and set the pan on the stove to heat up.
Timothy took the opportunity to take the towel from the cabinet door the moment I hung it up to throw it on the floor. I should've known.
Ding dong ding dong ding dong
My anger was rising as whoever it was at 8 in the morning insisted I walk faster. I reached for the door and opened it.
Nobody was there. What the heck? I thought for a bit. I shut the door and was met with a sudden burst of electricity which hit me with a crash and everything went white.
Then before my eyes, like a computer screen rebooting, ones and zeros scrolled up on the right side and down on the left side. I heard a high pitched sequencing noise and then it quieted as my vision rebooted. I blinked and before me, each object in the room stood out to me differently. I couldn't quite tell how.
I picked up the couch cushion on the floor and put it back where it belonged. The action triggered and a sudden [bing!] The sound went off in my mind, followed by the number +10 floating in the air in front of me, which slowly faded away.
Huh?
I picked up another cushion and again the sound rang out, [Bing! +10]. Floated a second before fading away.
I scanned the room with my eyes. Would this happen every time I pick something up?
The twins came over to me and watched as I began tidying up the living room. The sounds of toy cars clanging into the toy bucket followed by [Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing! +5 +5 +5 +5…..]
What was going on here? I'll admit that this was fun. How is my life so boring that cleaning the living room is fun?
But I did feel a bit of satisfaction though.
[Bing!Bing! Bing! Bing !+5+5+5+5]
Rory clapped his hands excitedly as he wanted to get involved as well.
I began to pick up books and papers and swept the floor under the couch.
[bing Bing Bing Bing +5+10+20+5+1]
I wonder what determines how many points I get? Is this like a VR system?
My thoughts were interrupted by the smell of something burning. "Aaaahhhhhh!!!!" Timothy squealed in excitement as I rushed back to the kitchen to find the oil I was heating had gotten too hot. I lifted the pan up and swirled it around to cool it down before wiping the old oil out with a paper towel and adding a new drop. I cracked some eggs into the pan.
[+1+1+1+1+] "what? I even get points for cooking? What is this? A system where I get participation points?" I laughed.
Rory and Timothy sat down at their small picnic table for kids and excitedly accepted their plates. I blew on them and stirred it around to make sure the eggs weren't that hot. [bing! +10]
"Anwen!" I called out, "it's time to eat!" She didn't answer. "Anwen!"
"Ugh!" She yelled back. I made my way back up the stairs. "Winny it's time to get up! You have school in twenty minutes!"
It wasn't my intention but I blamed myself for starting the morning late. I must be the very worst at punctuality. I thought.
[bing! -20] huh? What was I losing points for?
I don't have time for this. "Winny get up!"