Doing Laundry: Chapter 1 ~ [The Pig Pen]

Doing Laundry

(Chapter 1)

“Tadaima.” Kaede called out into the modest apartment. It was almost noon on a bright Saturday and Kaede had just come home from basketball practice. He waited for an answer as he toed off his shoes and slipped into a pair of house slippers. However, when Ayako’s cheerful reply did not come, he sighed and made his way to the kitchen, leaving his sports bag in the hallway. She usually leaves a message for him on the refrigerator whenever she leaves the house when Kaede wasn’t there.

As expected, Kaede encountered a folded note stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet shaped like a fox. He smiled, remembering that the magnet had been a gift from Ayako on his 7th birthday. She had been 13 then, and had presented it to him as a joke, since everyone who saw him thought he looked like a fox. Shaking his head as he took the note down, he wondered why he had never thought about throwing the thing away. He leaned against the counter as he opened the note and read what was written inside.

Kaede,

I know I said that I’d be spending today with you but my boss called while you were at practice. The project we’re working on encountered a problem so I had to go to the office and help find a solution. I know you’re a big boy now and you understand that I need to do this to support us both. Nonetheless, I truly am sorry that I can’t spend the day with my favorite brother. =) I promise I’ll make it up to you, ok.

I probably won’t be back by dinnertime so just cook enough for yourself, ne.

Love,

Your big sister

P.S. I wasn’t able to do the laundry because I was in a hurry. Could you please do it for me? Arigatou!

Kaede sighed again as he refolded the note and tucked it into his pocket. He did understand. He knew that Ayako was doing everything she could for the both of them. And that’s why he was determined to do his best in school, so he could graduate from his course, BS Business Administration and Accountancy, with honors and get a high-paying job. (A.N. Why this particular course? No reason. It’s just that that’s what I’m taking up now and I thought, heck, why not make Kaede-kun suffer as much as I am? Hehehe. I’m evil, I know.) That way, he would be able to repay his sister. He would make sure that Ayako would never have to work so hard for money ever again. With that in mind, he straightened up so he could go and do his homework. The laundry could wait until later.

Kaede made his way out of the kitchen when suddenly…

GROWL!

He looked down sheepishly at his stomach as it let out a loud growl of protest at being forgotten to be fed. *Souka. I knew I was forgetting something.* Patting his stomach apologetically, he went over to the refrigerator to look for something to eat as the impatient “tummy monsters” grumbled yet again. He chuckled to himself. *Yare, yare. I never seem to remember how hungry I get after basketball practice.*

After satisfying his stomach’s demand for food and cleaning up the mess he made, Kaede was finally able to retreat to his room and start on his homework. It was 12:30 P.M.

~*~*~*~

The late afternoon sun filtered into a bedroom window where a raven-haired young man was working diligently at his desk. Kaede scribbled out the last figure for the worksheet he was working on before putting the pencil down and rubbing his eyes. He liked his course very much but sometimes, the sheer volume of the work involved was just too much to handle. Add to that the fact that the only way one can ever really be proficient at accounting is to practice constantly and what you get is a tired hand and an aching head.

Sighing in relief that his work was finally done, Kaede closed his accounting book, arranged all the sheets of columnar paper he had used, placed his pens, pencils and eraser back into the pen-holder on his desk, before pushing his chair back and standing up. He rolled his head from side to side while massaging his nape wearily with his right hand. *K’so. I always get a stiff neck when I do my homework.* He pushed the chair back under the desk and was about to fall back on his bed when he remembered that he had to do the laundry. Sighing tiredly, he trudged out of his room and into the laundry room. The laundry room was actually a small closet connected to the kitchen. In it were a washing machine, a cabinet of laundry detergent and the laundry basket.

As he sifted through the laundry that had accumulated during the week, he realized that most of his clothes were in it and that he really needs to do the laundry now or he wouldn’t have anything to wear. Kaede started separating the clothes into piles: a pile for the dark-colored ones, a pile for the white ones, and so on. When he was done with that, he plugged the washing machine in and waited for its customary sputter of protest, a sure sign that it was working. When five seconds passed without any sound emanating from the old machine, he looked at the socket, to make sure that it was plugged in correctly. Yup, no problem there. Then he checked to see of the socket was working by plugging in the toaster and checking if it was getting warm. Yup, he could definitely feel the toaster getting warm. He unplugged the small appliance and returned it to the kitchen. He growled in frustration. The ancient washing machine was obviously broken again. *K’so! Now what do I do?*

As he glowered darkly at the offending machine, he suddenly remembered that there was a small laundromat nearby. Resigning himself to the fact that they needed to spend money on something other than the bare necessities again, Kaede placed all the clothes on a large sheet and bundled it up. He then checked his wallet, to see if he had enough to pay for getting them washed. Satisfied that he had enough, he hauled the large bundle over his shoulder and left the apartment.

~*~*~*~

Kaede looked up to verify that this was indeed the laundromat he was looking for. Yup, this was definitely a laundromat. He transferred his load over to his left shoulder and used his right hand to open the door. The small bell attached to the door tinkled softly as he pushed the door open and stepped into the brightly lit shop. He walked over to the counter where a boy and a girl were talking animatedly albeit in hushed tones. Clearing his throat to get their attention, Kaede waited patiently as both turned towards him, momentarily startled by the sight of a new customer. Then, the red-haired boy smiled and said, “Welcome! How may I help you?”

Chapter 2