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"Who ever heard of spring cleaning in July?" Carter grumbled as she grabbed Zac's mattress and pulled it off of his bed. When it flipped over, the corner knocked Carter over and she hit the floor with a thud, pulling the mattress down on top of her.
Taylor walked into Zac's bedroom, laughed and pointed.
"Son of a bitch! HELP ME UP!" She kicked at the mattress but it just fell on top of her again.
"Whoa, gear down, turbo"*** Taylor laughed as he dropped the basket he was carrying, piled high with clean clothes, and knelt down to help Carter up.
"Bite me, flamer."
Taylor rolled his eyes and lifted the mattress just enough so that Carter could crawl out from under it. She jumped up and flashed a karate stance at the mattress. "So other than cleaning your rooms, rotating mattresses, and rearranging furniture for a 'fresh new look', what other chores does your mom have planned?"
"Lots, I'm sure. Are you going to flip my mattress too?"
"No. You have arms."
"So does Zac."
"His hurt."
Taylor looked around. "Where is he anyway?"
"Last I checked he was... repainting the silver banister out front."
"But it's metal."
"Hey, it's your mom. Who by the way, last I checked was scrubbing the roof." Carter laughed and hoisted the mattress back onto the bed. "You can drop his clothes anywhere, I'll put them away for him."
Taylor sighed. "Why are you doing his work for him?"
"Because I want to." She flashed a grin at him and began tucking a black fitted sheet onto his mattress.
"Make my bed?"
"You want it short-sheeted?"
Taylor grumbled and left the room.
Five minutes later, Carter finished making his bed and Zac came into his room, his hands and arms covered completely in silver paint. "So, mom wants us to bring my dresser downstairs and take it out front for the garbage man. Gotta make room for my new one."
"Alright." Carter took one look at his arms and laughed. Then she grabbed one end of the dresser. "Do you think you can do some heavy lifting?"
"Yeah, no problem. How hard can it be to get a dresser downstairs?" He shrugged and helped Carter pull the dresser away from the wall.
Carter's jaw dropped and she glanced from the wall, back to Zac. "Zac, sweetie, there's a hole in your wall the size of your head."
He nodded. "It's been there a while."
"But... how?"
"You really want to get into that now?"
Carter laughed. "Alright, I'm gonna go clear the hallway. You take the drawers out of the dresser to make it lighter. I'll be right back."
Zac lifted his hand to his head and saluted her. "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Cute." She rolled her eyes and went out to the hallway. She kicked all the dirty clothes and cleaning products to Taylor's end of the hall and laughed when she realized she'd baracaded him into his bedroom. "He can worry about that later." When she came back to Zac's bedroom he was all ready to move the dresser.
"Alright, let's go." He grabbed the dresser and wiggled his butt into his 'ready stance'.
"Zac..." Carter looked the dresser up and down, smiling at the drawers that were stacked on top. "Think about what you just did..."
Zac thought for a moment and then smiled. "Oh." He laughed and lifted all the drawers off of the dresser and set them on the floor. "Alright, now let's go."
Carter laughed and grabbed one end of the dresser and began pushing it out into the hallway. They positioned the dresser in front of the stairs and Carter decided she was going to go down backwards, easing the dresser as they went along. "Ok, are we ready?" She stood facing Zac with her arms wrapped around the dresser. It was a little heavier than they had anticipated.
"I'm ready. Are you sure you can guide it?"
"Yeah. Just don't let go." Carter stepped down two stairs and waited while Zac eased the dresser down to her. "See, this isn't too hard. Alright, one more step." She stepped down and pulled on the dresser. It didn't move. She pulled harder.
"Hey, Car."
"Yo."
"It's not moving."
"I see." She looked behind her and then down at the stairs at her feet. Then, when she looked to her left she realized the edge of the dresser was stuck on the banister. It was old, wooden, and started three steps down from the top of the stairs and ended at the bottom. "Ok, dilemma."
"Should I think?"
Carter laughed. "No, this is really heavy and I don't think I can hold it for six hours." She looked behind her to make sure she had her footing. "Ok, go into your room and get your magic screw driver."
"The one that unscrews screws?"
"No, the one that makes pizza." She laughed. "Yeah. Go get it and we'll unscrew the banister and take it off so we can get the dresser down the stairs."
Zac ran to his bedroom while Carter held the dresser in place. He came back empty handed. His face was grim. "It's not there."
"It's not in the middle of your floor?"
"No. The ONE time I put something away."
Carter laughed. "Alright, I'm going to go to the basement and get it." She let go of the dresser and was pleased to see that the banister was holding it in place.
"Strong little, booger." Zac smiled and held the dresser, just in case.
Carter ran to the basement and fished through Walker Hanson's huge metal took cabinet. "Alright, we have short little wire clipper thingie... big giant monkey wrencher thing... little silver... thing... Aha. Screwrivers." She turned around and yelled up the stairs. "Hey Zac! What kind do we need?! Philips or..." She paused when she heard an unfamiliar noise. It sounded like a sharp crack, possibly the sound of wood splitting in half. Then, she heard several loud thumps coming from above her head, followed by the loudest crash she'd ever heard in a house.
She ran as fast as she could and found Zac, sitting at the top of the stairs, empty handed. She looked at the bottom of the stairs where the large, wooden dresser was planted at least 12 inches inside of the wall. Zac nodded at her and smiled. "Got it down the stairs." He was holding half of the banister, which had snapped in half under the weight of the dresser.
"Zac?"
"Yup."
"There's a hole in your wall the size of a dresser."
"Yup."
***Tom's quote. I LOVE IT! You rule Tom! Watch out for meteorites.
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