Diavolo Cleans the House

It was a Monday morning, and Diavolo and Donatella cuddled in bed. They peacefully slept until Trish, five years old, came into their room crying. Although exhausted, Donatella got out of bed.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“I wet the bed again,” she answered.

“Again? What time is it?” She looked at the clock. “What! It’s 7 AM? Diavolo, wake up!” She opened the curtains, and beams of light woke him up, making him slowly rise. “Trish, eat, then brush your teeth. Babe, I’m going to drop her off. Could you clean up around the house? It’s a bit of a mess.”

“Alright.” He went back to bed.

Half an hour later, Diavolo awoke and lazily walked to the kitchen. Immediately, he saw spilled milk on the floor and sighed, grabbing a paper towel to clean it up. Once he cleaned it, he looked at the state of the house.

“Wow, what a mess,” he commented.

Couch pillows were on the floor, the dirty dishes pilled the sink, Trish drew on the walls, and everything was a complete mess.

Before Diavolo could do the chores, he made a bowl of cereal, brushed his teeth, and changed his clothes. First, he put the pillows on the couch, did the dishes, vacuumed the floor, and dusted the shelves. Afterward, he looked at Trish’s graffiti.

“This looks like a child drew this,” Diavolo commented, looking at the drawn sunflower. “I could improve this, but I have other things to do. I think Donatella wants me to clean up Trish’s room too.”

He headed to her room, trying to look for the light switch.

“Ugh, why does it smell like pee in here? Oh, right, Trish—ouch! What the?”

Something small and sharp pierced the skin of his foot. What could Trish have in here that could injure someone, and how did it get here? Diavolo turned on the lights and looked down at his foot—a lego.

“I thought we told Trish to pick this up!” He sighed, looking at the lego pieces all over the floor. “Guess I need to pick these up first.”

He grabbed the legos and put them in a box. Finally, he was able to safely get the blanket without injuring himself. He took the soiled blanket into the laundry room, placed it in the washer, and returned to Trish’s room to see if anything else needed cleaning. Nothing more needed cleaning, but he saw something on Trish’s table. It was something round with a bite mark and grayish blue. Diavolo got closer to inspect it, noticed some holes, and sniffed it.

“Smells like playdough, but why are there holes?” He dug his fingers in there, taking out an M&M buried inside. “What? Hold on. Did she try to make this edible? Huh, I see what she was doing. That’s kind of smart.”

Diavolo walked out of the room, and it seemed like he had finished the chores except for cleaning the walls. He looked at the clock in the living room and noticed that Donatella should be home by now. Then the phone went off in the kitchen, causing Diavolo to walk over there and answer it.

“Babe, are you there?” Donatella asked.

“Yeah, I’m here. Where are you? What’s taking you so long?”

“Did you notice Trish spilled milk on the floor? After dropping her off, I had to go to the grocery store to buy some milk. I’m in a long line. How’s the cleaning going?”

“The house is almost clean, but I’m planning a surprise for you and Trish.”

“Really? I can’t wait to see it!”

“I think I can get this done before you get home. I should hurry. I love you.”

“I love you too! Bye!”

They hung up, and Diavolo returned to Trish’s room for some crayons and began drawing sunflowers near her drawing.

-

Donatella returned with milk and sandwiches and saw Diavolo napping on the couch with the TV on. The house was clean, but she noticed Trish’s sunflower drawing was on the wall but with more detailed-looking sunflowers.

Diavolo finally awoke and sat straight. “Oh, you’re here. Welcome back. I missed you.”

Donatella sat on the sofa and kissed him. “I bought some sandwiches on the way since it was almost lunchtime. I think Trish will like the drawing.” She placed the sandwiches on the coffee table and looked at the television. “What are we watching? It looks like a cartoon but not meant for kids.”

“Oh, this? I have no idea. I turned this on for background noise. It looks like a bunch of people with superpowers is fighting in Egypt. I don’t know.”

“Well, whatever it is, I’ll watch it with you. Let me put my purse back in the closet.” She got up and quickly walked to their room, noticing Diavolo had forgotten to clean this area. She returned and plopped herself on the couch. “You forgot our room,” she said, cuddling against him.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized. “Oh, and Trish didn’t put her legos away. I had to clean them up again, and she also mixed her playdough and M&Ms together to make it edible.”

“Interesting, but at least she stopped eating her crayons.”

They sat down and watched the cartoon together.