Mission Stereotype

Chapter Five - a curious book and cold baths

He gave me an odd look. "Okay then...I'll help if you want. I havent anything better to do, and I want to tell you my list of possible birthday presents. Hint hint." He stood up, and started to head for the kitchen to find a bucket.

I blanched, horror settling within me. "No! Nonono! I should do it; you go back to drawing. Or homework. Or stealing cookies from the cookie jar." I said, a little desperately.

"What?!" my dad choked. He had been sitting on the sofa just inside the living room, watching TV and reading a newspaper at the same time. "Luke? It was YOU who took the cookies?! You said it was next door's budgie! No wonder why we didn't have any left, your mother always has to go buy more when the isn't any left for guests!"

"Uhh..." Luke had come back, with a surprised guilty expression on his face.

"You two! BOTH of you can clean the umbrella stand, no choice now!"

"But-" Luke tried to reason.

"No ifs, no buts. And it's high time someone cleaned it too."

I groaned, and collapsed on the floor. My idea of reading the mysterious book did not go to plan.

**

Two hours later, we were done. I had snuck the book upstairs to my room, whilst Luke was getting the bucket and cloth.

Now, the umbrella stand was clean and shiny inside and out, devoid of all dust and mud.

"How long did that take?" my brother moaned.

"I don't know. I don't care. As long as we don't have to do that again." I mumbled.

We were flopped on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Dust was on our clothes, in our hair, as well as crusty mud splatters.

It was eight o'clock, and I hadn't showered, or washed my hair, or done anything (in my point of view) productive. Which is why I decided to have a long soak in the bath and mull things over. There was always a chance I might drop the book in the water, so I decided to leave it stuffed under my pillow.

I discovered that it fell out of the open attic door above the stairs (from some hard detective work...well, a few seconds to glance up. And see the open hatch and the ladder poking out. But it sounded so much better).

I sprinkled some crystals into my bath, and swilled the water around with my hand. I quickly stripped, and climbed into the bath.

I sighed happily, and leant back.

I closed my eyes, more to smell the scent of bath crystals wafting around in the steamy air than to relax.

I felt myself drifting off...

"POOP! Get out now! Someone's calling you and you've been in there for ages!"

I jumped, and banged my head on the side of the bathtub splashing cold water onto the bathroom floor as Luke pounded on the door.

"Okay, I'm coming, hang on a second," I yelled. I wrapped a towel around myself, unplugged the plughole of the bathtub, grabbed my clothes, unlocked the door and ran out of the bathroom.

All in the timespan of about two seconds. A world record, I'd say!

I stumbled past Luke who was looking rather disgruntled and fell into my bedroom.

My phone had shuffled it's way across my cupboard desk, incessantly ringing "Party Rock Anthem". I changed the ringtone when my mum had started singing to it, last night. I grabbed it, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Finally! I've been trying to get through to you for donkey's years!"

I checked the time. I'd wasted a whole hour asleep in the bathtub.

"Ahh. Yeah, I fell asleep in the bath...I'm guessing this is Hazel?"

"Yeah, it's me. And...you fell asleep in the bath? Is that possible? You didn't die from constriction or something?"

"Awesome. Yep. Apparently so. And nope, I didn't die."

"Evidently."

I grinned. "You could take that evidence into a court case, it's so good!"

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm the evidence, and I'm alive, so...yeah...you could go into a court trial with that, and win...y'know what I mean?"

Hazel paused for a moment to speculate. "...You're crazy, you know that?"

I laughed. "If I'm crazy, what are you?"

She broke into chuckles. "True."

Ten minutes passed in which Hazel and I discussed what we would do the day after next.

I yawned, and clicked off my light. I snuggled deeper into the duvet, and faintly remembered something about...a book?

But before I could delve deeper into the memory, I fell into the oblivion of sleep.