✅1️⃣ | Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!

117: I've Got a Plan and I Know What I'm Doing

This afternoon was going to be devoted to cleaning, and Adi was determined not to be distracted again. She didn't want to be thinking about other things, and she didn't want to be startled by every creak as the empty house settled. So she started by taking a portable radio – which she'd found while tidying the lounge this morning – and tuning it to a banal talk station. People chattering about trivial news items, things she didn't care for at all, would be even less of a distraction than silence, and would ensure that she met her goals.

First she listened to a couple of middle-aged men with the wit of teenage jocks bickering about some new ruling that would change the terms football teams were allowed to impose when buying and selling players' contracts. One of them apparently thought this was a terrible idea and a sign of clear corruption within the sport's governing body, while the other thought that is was a stupid change and a sign that some bureaucrat had their head stuck where the sun doesn't shine. Adi didn't know half the celebrities they name-dropped, and she didn't know what the new ruling meant, or what the rules had previously been. But the idle chatter kept her from thinking about anything too involved while she picked her way around Toni's untidy room, picking up all the clothes from the floor.

In a way she felt like an intruder. Toni had asked her to do this, but it was still strange to be in someone else's room on her own. She could find any number of secrets, and she was both nervous and excited as she imagined what her girlfriend might be concealing under the bed, or in other places where no reasonable person would ever pry.

Adi didn't look, but it took a great effort of will. By the time the two losers on the radio had finished their debate, she had three bags of clothes sorted into light, dark, and delicate. She put the first load into the machine and set it going, and checked her watch. She figured that there would be plenty of time to do at least two loads before Toni got home, maybe even three. If she did so well, then maybe Toni would have an extra special treat for her tonight.

* * *

Now the radio was hosting a phone-in debate about whether certain celebrities deserved to be role models. Adi thought that was an interesting philosophical debate, leading to the question of whether it was more appropriate to look up to people based on their moral and social outlook, or for their success. But most of the callers seemed more interested in pointing out that someone she'd never heard of wasn't a fit model for kids to look up to because he'd acted dreadfully in some film that Adi knew nothing about. She wondered if that meant bad behaviour or bad acting, a question which none of the responses or subsequent callers managed to clarify.

While the words trickled in one ear and out the other, discarded for their sheer inanity, Adi was walking around the kitchen. She made sure that everything was in its place, and where there were more than one or two tins, packets, or jars of any particular ingredient, she made sure that the ones with the shortest shelf life were positioned at the front.

There were a few things marked with rather short dates, she noticed as she was sorting through the cupboards and the big chest freezer in the utility room. That answered the question about what to eat today; she could make a list of things which were out of date but probably still edible, and search for those ingredients on a recipe website. She wondered if Toni would appreciate the idea, but decided that anything leading to less waste had to be helpful.

* * *

Next on the radio was the afternoon news. After the obligatary discussion of the love lives of celebrities, they moved on to more pressing matters. But every story was related through a disordered collection of soundbites from the man on the street in different parts of the world. Shows like this had been a key factor in convincing Adi that a substantial proportion of the human race were uninformed idiots, and it seemed that not much had changed since she last listened to the opinions of the masses.

It probably didn't help that the reporters were soliciting opinions from people who would be unaffected by news they might not even have heard about. So the man on the street in Scotland was being asked his opinions on recent changes to Australian tax laws and the protests and demonstrations taking place as a result; while reporters in South Australia were asking members of the public if they'd heard that the US military budget was being reallocated to massively increase funding for the air force. It was a show that wasn't intended to inform the listener, but to give them an opportunity on people in different parts of the world by asking them about things that a typical person would never be expected to understand.

Adi allowed herself a little smirk at some of the baseless opinions she heard. But for most of that broadcast, she was more focused on getting the bathrooms both clean and sparkling. It was harder than she'd expected, and by the time the chrome taps on the main bath were gleaming she could feel a real sense of achievement.

She was wondering what the time was now, and whether she could justify a brief break from maid duties, when she heard the front door swing open.

"Babe?" Toni's voice called up the stairs, "You've done a great job. Want a treat?"

Adi was just about to respond when the radio caught her attention again, a half-heard introduction that pushed everything else to the back of her mind.

Author's Note: Can you see where this is going? I'm not sure if it was too obvious.