As a kid I wasn't too wild about doing chores (who is?), at least not the ones assigned to me, i.e. sweep,vacuum, dust. But, there was one task that I thought looked fun: mopping. Whether it was the bucket of sudsy water, or the shininess after the fact, for some reason I was fascinated by the whole process. As any responsible mother would, my mom kept this project to herself while we children were young, so the magic of the mop remained a mystery.
When we lived in Pleasant Hill we had two regular babysitters- the great one, and the pretty one. Being a superficial 6 year old, I preferred it when the pretty girl was the babysitter; my mom on the other hand, preferred the girl who was actually responsible. That girl took great care of us, and she would tidy up after we went to bed.
One evening, because the good babysitter was unavailable Seth and I were being tended by the pretty one, so I took it upon myself to help out Mom. I decided to do the mopping. What a good daughter, right?
So I got out the supplies: mop, check; bucket of water, check; cleaner fluid, hmm. What does she use to make those bubbles? It must be shampoo- that is what I use when I want to take a bubble bath. Ok, shampoo, check.
I knew the mop goes in the bucket and then is rubbed around on the floor. What I didn't know was that in between the bucket-dip and the floor-rub, is the squeeze out. I just assumed that little lever halfway down the handle was to make steering easier.
Fast forward 3o minutes: the pretty babysitter hangs up the phone and exits my parents room, in preparation for the imminent arrival of said parents. They come in the door, pay the girl and she is on her merry way. Mom, meanwhile, does a quick check of the house; living room fine, bathroom fine, kitchen soaking wet, bedrooms fi-- wait, what!? She hears a clunking in the closet and opens the door to see me holding the mop, one foot in a nearly empty mop bucket, wearing pants wet up to the knee.
I quickly show her how I was almost done- See Mom, the bucket is almost empty! I did it all by myself! It was supposed to be a surprise for you- I know you usually do it, but I was helping!
I don't really remember what happened after that, but I'm sure it involved early bedtimes, more of my regular chores, and probably some sort of mop ban for the next 8 years or so.
