BAD HOUSEKEEPING
by Danya Boksenboim
Belinda finished washing the last of the dishes- a month ago. It was so amazing to see them all back in the sink. The floor was covered wall to wall with laundry meant to go into the machine. The dining room table had so much stuff on it that you couldn’t clear a space to sit and eat anything anymore. Let alone just have coffee. Ditto for the counter tops in the kitchen. Then there was the bedroom. It was clutter, chaos, and the whole shebang. As a matter of fact, thought Belinda, there was not one square inch in the whole place that was tidy or clean. She felt the oppressive passive aggression of squalor conspiring against her. She hauled herself up and flopped herself down in silent observation.
From all of this Belinda came to the conclusion that it was time to clean up her apartment. The way out of this was to come up with a plan of attack. She pondered……… What Belinda came up with was that when you take the first step all the others just follow. You have to take the first step. What was the first step? Belinda meditated on the amazing mystery of it all. Then…..transcending to……awakening to…….THE SINK. The kitchen sink. She would deal with the sink and only the sink. That was the first step. The second step was to get an empty garbage bag and fill it up. The third step was the dining room table. Then the logical fourth step was the floor! Yes! That would bring Belinda to doing load after load of laundry. Which would also take care of the bedroom. The bedroom would be the fifth step! Yes! Then going back and washing all the floors surely would be the crowning glory and the sixth step.
Six steps. In six steps the one bedroom apartment that after all was Belinda’s castle, would be clean. A clean abode in just six steps. What a wonderful idea. Belinda was empowered by the organized plan that she had constructed through meditation. She reminded herself that each step required total concentration. “YES!” thought Belinda.
She felt so much better. So free of anxiety. She got up. She put on her coat. She walked to the front door and walked out carefully locking the door behind her.
Belinda made her way down the street with a light heart. “Only six steps and to think it all starts with the kitchen sink.” She thought, and she now knew that some day with the proper concentration and energy, she would try it.
Danya says: I am a baby boomer and I was born to write humour. I began by writing humourous songs in a cabaret setting. My name at the time was Diana Marcovitz. I came from Montreal to New York in my twenties and became a star with a very cult following. I made two albums. One for Columbia records, and one for Buddah records. My sister has both of them. I moved to Israel, changed my name (got married} and began writing humourous articles and plays:
THE RAGE. THE CHANUKA STORY, ROSALIE, PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, KINA GEIVA AND TIVA ARTICLES, BAD HOUSE KEEPING published by BAT KOL and won second prize in the A.A.C.I. writing contest, with a story called TU-B-SHVAT
