Seventeen-year-old Ainsley awoke that July morning in a relatively good mood. For the first time in weeks, it wasn’t scalding out so she wasn’t sticking to her bed sheets. Plus, her parents had taken her younger siblings to the lake so the house would be hers, at least for a couple of hours. Best of all, she had the day off from work so she could enjoy the quiet. Everything felt great until she saw her mom’s note.
“Good morning, Sweetie.” The note read. “Gone to the lake with Dad and the twins as promised. See you in a couple. Don’t forget to do your laundry! Love, Mom.”
Ainsley groaned. She hated laundry day. It wasn’t because she hated doing laundry. In fact, she actually liked that chore a lot. It was easy to do. Detergent, clothes, close lid, and the machine does the rest. She just disliked everything else that came with it.
“No point in putting it off.” Ainsley whispered to herself, gathering up her laundry.
Overflowing canvas bag slung over her shoulder, Ainsley started the short trek downstairs to the utility/laundry room. She could already hear giggling, but she tried to ignore it. She was on a mission, sent by her mom.
Ainsley turned on the light and dropped her bag onto the floor. She wanted to pull up the shade and open the window, but she knew that it would only cause trouble. Instead, she focused on just getting out of there as quickly as possible. She opened the lid of the washing machine, threw in some laundry detergent pods, some of her clothes, closed the lid, set the machine, and turned to leave the room.
“Where are you going, Ainsley?” asked a squeaky voice.
“Yeah. No hello?” asked a gruff voice.
“Mama, doesn’t Ainsley like us anymore?” asked a baby voice.
“Ya upset the baby, Ainsley!” scolded the gruff voice.
Ainsley hesitantly turned around to address the family of trolls who lived in the utility/laundry room.
“Molly…Eddie…Baby Fern.”
“Ya sound nervous, Ainsley.” said Molly with her gruff voice. “Everything okay?”
“I’m…I’m just sorry to have offended you.”
“You got any cookies out there, kid?” Eddie asked, sniffing her.
“I don’t know if my mom has gone to the store yet.”
“You got any chips? Licorice?”
“Didn’t you hear the girl, Eddie? She already said she don’t know if her ma has gone to the store yet. You and ya stomach!”
Eddie groaned and let out a belch. Baby Fern giggled.
“Now I’m sorry if we’re offending ya, Ainsley. He don’t have no manners.”
“I can go check the kitchen if you want?”
“No. No. He can stand to lose a few. No. I want you to stay and chat with me. How’s ya week been?”
“My week has been fine. Nothing really to report. Same old.” Ainsley said, shrugging.
“Work is going well?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Making any new friends?”
“Not really.”
“Well, why not?” Molly asked, shocked. “Don’t ya go there to make friends?!?”
“No. I go there to make money to save to go to college.”
“To go where?” Molly asked, confused.
“To college. I don’t know where yet.”
“You’re leaving us?” Baby Fern asked, sadly.
“See! Ya made the baby sad again!”
“I’m sorry, but, yes, I’ll be going away to college next year.”
“No, you won’t. That’s unacceptable!”
“Yeah. Who will get me my snacks?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s what people my age do.”
Molly broke down into tears. Baby Fern joined her.
“Great! Now they’re blubbering and I’m still hungry! Thanks, Ainsley!”
“Guys, I’m sorry. It’s just something that I need to do. My parents want this for me.”
“Ya parents are wrong!” Molly said, taking out one of Ainsley’s dirty shirts and blowing her nose on it. “Ya wrong. Kids don’t just leave like that!”
“They do though. It’s called growing up. One day, my brother and sister will go to college too.”
Molly and Baby Fern stopped crying. They along with Eddie stared at her.
“What?”
“You have a brother and a sister?” Molly asked, grinning.
The washing machine stopped. Ainsley put her wet clothes into the dryer and started it. She put her other dirty clothes, especially the booger covered shirt, into be washed.
“You have a brother and a sister?” Molly repeated.
“I thought that you knew.” Ainsley replied, confused.
“How old are they?” Eddie asked, stroking his snack residue filled beard.
“They’re both eight.”
“Can they do laundry?” Molly asked, mischievously.
“Not yet.”
Eddie and Molly let out defeated sighs.
“What are we going to do?” Molly asked wiping her eyes with her hairy palm. “Her ma and pa can’t see us and she’s leaving us!”
“Maybe while I’m at college you could find another house to—”
“Are ya throwing us out?!?” Molly screamed, clutching her chest.
“No. I’m just trying to help you find—”
“Ya don’t know what it’s like out there for a family like ours!”
“Molly, calm down. Remember Baby Fern needs you.” Eddie said, scowling at Ainsley.
“Guys, I’m not kicking you out! You just seemed sad about me going to school in a year so I thought if you found another family to live with you wouldn’t be sad. That’s all.”
“We don’t want another family. We just want you to stay with us.” Molly said, sniffling.
“I’d come home to visit. Does that help?”
Molly and Eddie went into a huddle and whispered to each other.
“Besides, guys, it’s still another year. I’m sorry that I even brought it up.”
Molly and Eddie came out of their huddle.
“We have agreed that it could be fine providing ya visit and visit often.” Molly said, arms crossed.
“I told her that you might not even get in. I said that I once knew a human boy, dumb as putty, no college would take him. May we be so lucky.” Eddie said, wrapping his arm around Molly.
“Thanks.” Ainsley replied, weakly.
The front door suddenly opened. The sound of young kids running upstairs could be heard.
“Sweetie, we’re back!” Ainsley’s mother called from the foyer.
“Ya better go, dear. Don’t want ya to be rude to ya ma.” Molly said, smiling.
Molly gestured for her to leave. Ainsley slowly exited the room.
“Hi Mom” Ainsley said, putting her head on her mom’s shoulder.
“Did you start your laundry?” Her mom asked, stroking her hair.
Ainsley, holding back frustrated tears, “Uh huh.”
“You know I hate to criticize, but it’s a little weird that doing laundry bothers you so much. Maybe you should speak to a therapist about it?” She says, rubbing her back.
