Imagine That

Photo by Sarah Dietz on Pexels.com

“Imagine that,” Amelia said, pulling out a mesh bag of muck. “I found your crayons and they found their way into the dryer.

“Sorry, Mom.” Her youngest held out a hand for the bag. “I can help buy a new machine.”

“No, I can clean this. Not all is lost.” She turned on her heel. “You want a puzzle? How can you create different colors with what you can find outside?”

“Anywhere outside?”

“Anywhere except the garage and shed. Get an empty egg carton from under the sink and see what you can fill it with.”

As one child skipped out, another stepped in. “What’s that about, Mom?”

“It’ll keep her occupied for the amount of time I’m going to need to scrub this clean.”

“Good plan.”

“You’re not off the hook, young man. You told me you checked the pockets of everything before you started the laundry.”

“Um, I-.”

She held up some damp bills. “Consider this my cleaner’s fee. Want to help your sister? Find some new materials you both can paint or color on. Same parameters, anything outside, sans garage and shed.”

Her son shook his head on the way out the the door. “Imagine that.”