Maryann woke up to the soft sound of rain hitting her bed room window. The sky out side was dark, cold, and almost sinister looking. She had a feeling that today wasn’t going to be a very good day. Besides the fact that she loved it when it rained, that Tuesday morning didn’t feel right. She was jumpy as she sat at her bureau to brush her wavy blonde hair. She felt that every movement she made was being watched by unseen eyes in a hiding spot that only her beholder knew about.
In Maryann’s one room apartment everything was close together. Leaving no room for intruders to hide, except for in the closet and the bathroom. That’s probably why Maryann decided to get a one room apartment. To leave no room for any of the intruders that she so fearfully worried would get into her home and hide in waiting, and sentence her to the same fate that her beloved mother and father had so unknowingly walked into on that what seemed to be a calm Sunday morning seven years back.
After she had brushed her hair she did her usual routine of looking for any intruders who could have effortlessly broken into her home while she was sleeping, watch her for a few hours in silent waiting, then go and take cover in a secretive hiding spot that would have to be thoroughly searched for to be found, and then when she would wake up, at her most vulnerable, her intruder would leap upon her in a strange insanity that only he knew, and kill her in cold blood.
Even though to most people Maryann’s ethics may sound a bit like she had one to many cups of tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, but they made complete and utter sense to her.
She walked over to her closet, the last place she hadn’t checked in her house inspection. She found that one of the French doors to her closet had not been closed all the way. This was strange because she always closed both doors, to make sure that the appearance of the small one room apartment looked nice and not trashy. Seeing that the door was open Maryann walked over to her bed, and grabbed a baseball bat that she kept under her bed for emergencies. Slowly she walked toward the partly open door. Moving up against the wall beside the door Maryann clung to her only weapon she kept. Counting to her self, Maryann swung open the door on three, and swung around to confront her supposed trespasser. In the state of panic that she was in she began to swing and hit something that was inside her closet. The only thing that was slowing her down was that she had her eyes closed.
She was begging to feel like she was successful and could open her eyes now when something heavy fell on her. She screamed and began to struggle with the heavy object on her, her eyes still closed. She was still screaming when she realized that the object on her wasn’t fighting back. Eyes shut tight she began to wonder if she killed the trespasser. Slowly opening one eye, she realized that her intruder really was her vacuum.
Feeling mildly stupid, she picked up the battered vacuum and looked inside the closet (to be sure no one was in there, and if anyone had, to be sure she didn’t miss them). She shut both doors tightly and dragged her vacuum over to plush chair that sat across from the bed. Sitting in the chair she wondered what people would say if they asked about what happen to he vacuum cleaner. Did you hear that Maryann Whritherton beat her vacuum with a baseball bat because she thought some one was in her house? Why, I heard she did the whole thing with both her eyes closed! Well she’s just one strap short of being put in a straight jacket! Said the imaginary critics in Maryann’s head, which she had so easily made up one day.
And leaving those harsh comments in mind, Maryann took her broken vacuum cleaner outside and through it into the dumpster. The rain hitting her face like pins and needles, making her ethics seem strange in her mind now that she had thoroughly beaten the crap out of her newly bought vacuum cleaner.
