A Doll of Hope

Chapter 6

The next day, Christie decided to do some cleaning up around the house.

"Time to wash away the smell of tobacco and alcohol and replace it with detergent and fresh air." She stated while opening the windows. With her bucket of cleaning supplies in hand, she got right to work. After she picked up all the trash and dirty clothes, she dusted every corner in the house, triple washed the windows, did the dishes, and swept all the floors. While she was doing all this, her dad was just sitting in his chair watching TV. By mid-afternoon, all she had left to do was the laundry. With her basket full of dirty clothes and bed sheets, she walked down stairs and headed for the laundry room.

"Boy, I haven't done this much cleaning in a long time. I need to do this more often." She said to herself as she sorted out the loads. After filling up three of the five washers, she headed back towards the stairs with an empty laundry basket in hand. When she reached the top of the stairs, she was surprised to see her father coming out of the room.

"Father? Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? To the bar of course. All those cleaning chemicals are making me sick. I can't even enjoy a good smoke."Christie sighed.

"At least everything's all clean now." Her father grunted.

"What's the point? It's just gonna get dirty again. You're just wasting your time." He was just about to head downstairs.

"Father, you know it's Sunday right? All the bars close early today."

"So what? I'll break in if I have to. I need a drink and I'm gonna get me one." He snorted as he headed downstairs. Christie just shook her head.

"Well, at least this will give me a chance to clean around his chair." She said to herself. While the laundry was running and her dad was away, she took the vacuum and swept all around the chair. She couldn't believe how many crumbs were underneath it. It completely filled the vacuum bag. As soon as she was sure she got all the crumbs, Christie took the full bag out and put a new one in for the next time.

"Phew! Well, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than what it was. I just hope that dad doesn't come home with a strong smell surrounding him. Than again, that's probably hoping for too much." After she put all the cleaning supplies away, she walked downstairs to get the laundry. As soon as she put the last of the clothes away and finished making the beds, she felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

"Boy, it sure feels good to get that done. Now all I have to do is get myself cleaned up. I smell like bleach." With that said, she hopped into the shower. While washing her hair, Christie couldn't help but think about all the fun she had the day before at the park with all her friends.

"It sure was nice to be able to do something fun like that with everyone. I hope we'll be able to do it again." Just then, she started thinking about Matt. She remembered how comforting his hand felt and how warm his smile was.

"Matt...we didn't get to talk very much, and yet...why? Why do I have this urge to see you again?" As she stepped out of the shower, she remembered how she felt safe being held in his arms.

"It was the first time a guy ever held me like that. Even father never held me like that before. It felt so...different. But in a good way. It felt like I was being protected by an invisible wall and that I had nothing to fear." Christie rubbed her hair dry as she stared at herself in the mirror.

"I wonder if Beth felt the same way the first time RJ held her?"

While putting her clothes on, she looked at the clock to see it was almost four o'clock.

"Wow, I can't believe I actually got the whole house all clean. It's been a while since I managed to do that." After getting dressed, she reached into her school bag and took out her sketchbook.