One Very Strange Day

So I was sitting there writing my blog post for the day yesterday and I heard a strange noise coming from the other room. At first I just assumed that it was one of the cats playing with something that they were not supposed to be playing with. Anyone who has owned a cat can vouch for their mischievousness. They get into the plants and eat them. They will knock things over or off of dressers just to watch them fall to the ground.

Our cats are not the most graceful cats and can make a lot of noise. One is a 20 year old white Persian, Velvet, that was never very graceful and has become even less so in her old age. The other is a 10 to 12 year old grey Tabby, Tigger, that has put on some serious weight because of the food that we need to feed Velvet to keep her from losing too much weight. Tigger labors under the illusion that she is still a young and spry cat which can cause her to be very clumsy. She has fallen off of the top of the couch and misjudged a jump up onto the bed just to fall back down. It can be quite humorous to watch her.

I realized that I needed to get up and investigate when I heard another more metallic clunking sound.

I was in the study and I knew that nothing was going on there so I decided to go into the bedroom. The cats are usually laying on the bed. They spend so much of the day lounging around in our bedroom that it really is their personal lounge and not our bedroom. Nothing was amiss in their lounge so I went into the hall. After walking through the empty hall (really there is not much to it; we live in a small condo after all), I entered the kitchen. Then it was when I looked in the dining room that I saw something that absolutely shocked me.

There was a strange woman in the dining room.

"Excuse me! Who are you?" I stammered. She looked rather shady and I wished that I was armed. I really had no clue as to who she was. She did, however, have a feather duster in her hand.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that anyone was home," she replied with a bit of what looked like a sneer. It was kind of creepy. She continued: "My name is Blanche White and I was hired by a woman that I am assuming was your wife to help out with the housework."

My wife and I had discussed hiring a maid service back before I entered seminary. We were both working in the business world and hated having to come home and clean. But we really hadn't talked about it since then because it just didn't seem financially wise. Apparently she went ahead and hired someone without telling me.

"Oh, ok. I just wasn't expecting anyone else to be in the house. Was that you making the clunking noise in here a few minutes ago or was it one of the cats?" I asked. I hadn't seen either of the cats lounging on the bed. Tigger avoids new people like the plague but Velvet loves everyone.

"That was me. I was dusting the centerpiece on your table and I accidentally knocked it over. Fortunately none of the glass candle holders broke."

Again she had this sneer on her face that made me feel uncomfortable. It was one of those things that was just so surreal. I looked over at the table and saw that the centerpiece did in fact look like it had recently been wiped down. It was clean...a bit too clean.

And that is how I knew that it was Mrs. White, in the dinning room with the candlestick.