the kitchen was her favourite room. not just because she was grateful to have a kitchen again, but because of it's brightness. the kitchen window was the largest in the suite and stretched from wall to wall. she could smile on the wild green backyard from her kitchen window. the kitchen was her freshest room.

the bathroom was the rankest. she shuddered as she recalled the previous night. she was met by sandra, the landlord's wife, at the side gate. sandra was tall, nut brown and worried. "he's not here." she was talking about tim, the former occupant of the suite. sandra fumbled with the locks, frustrated. when they walked in they saw the filthy carpet of the living room first. there was an orange and a green plastic ball on the floor. sandra walked into the kitchen. there was food in the fridge, a microwave still on the counter--everything dirty.

that's when laura glanced in the bathroom. where the kitty litter had been was a thick outline of litter peppered with turds. ugh, she thought, i can't move into this. i've just spent the whole day cleaning my old place spic and span!

they went into the bedroom together. the closet was full of junk. chief amongst the junk was innumerable pizza boxes. laura felt defeated, sandra chagrined. "do you think he's coming back?" laura asked hopefully. "i doubt he is coming back" sandra prophesied woefully in her clipped british accent. there was a vacuum cleaner in the middle of the bedroom floor. sandra tried it. it didn't work. "i can't believe someone would leave all this stuff." "this is bad, but i've seen worse," sandra confided. "when we bought this place the people who lived here were into drugs and alcohol. when they left they dumped out cereal all over the floor and left a mess on the walls...this is terrible, but i've seen worse." "that's awful!" commiserated laura, thinking how yucky it must be to be a landlord sometimes.

she did not return until sunday morning before church. sandra had located the keys in the mail box which was a big relief to laura who was not super keen on some pizza eating, slob having keys to her home. sandra and her elderly in-laws were in the kitchen cleaning. "the carpets are clean!" she chirrped to laura, "still a bit damp." terry's dad was sos-ing the stove top and his filipino wife was kneeling in front of the fridge with a rag. "thanks for cleaning up." laura said, meaning it whole heartedly. "i'll be back around 11.--" "no problem," interrupted sandra, "we'll be done in a few minutes anyways." and so she left amidst the peppered appologies from the step-mother-in-law at the fridge's door.

she stopped at subway before church and tried one of the build your own egg mcmuffins. she thought they were kind of groovy. she liked how you get to add your own veggies and pick a sauce. naturally she chose chipotle sauce and honey mustard.

she dropped esther's playpen just inside the door outside of the primary. nothing like a move to make you give back what you borrowed, she thought ruefully. she sat in the 4th row in her usual spot. there was no edith to claim the aisle seat but she pushed towards the middle anyways. just before sacrament began the young hoggs came and sat beside her. laura felt the young hoggs were a cute couple. esther scraped in just in time for sacrament, offspring in tow and sat in the pew ahead of them.

after sacrament carmen, in her red knit dress and black leggings crawled under the pew and climbed on laura's knee. "i'm wearing pants!" she stage whispered, sticking out her legs and pointing. in the end carmen drew some amusing pictures in laura's notebook and evan lay on the floor with his 'sloppy apple' (carmen's words), putting his feet up on the pew and on sarah hogg's skirt. laura wondered if the hoggs would ever join her again. unbearably cute, wiggly children, thought laura.

on her way out laura spotted suzanne giving her a quizzical look at the end of the hall, hands on hips, little baby tummy poking out. pregnant people are so cute, thought laura. "why are you here?" questioned suzanne. "i came just for sacrament," explained laura. "oh and i came just for primary." laughed suzanne. "good luck with your move!" she called after laura.

back at the old home laura changed out of her cute homemade-pink-skirt-with-grey-flower and into the stinky moving clothes of the day before. drat her lack of foresight, she thought with distaste as she donned the odorous garments. lisa soon arrived and they drove together in the loaded cargo van to the new home. they arrived just as the upstairs people were leaving. thoughtfully, they moved one of their vehicles to the side to make room for the cargo van. the lady introduced herself as sharon, and off they went.

unloading the van took no time at all. lisa brought drinks in a little insulated lunch bag and shared with laura. brisk fruit punch and cherry kool-aid. they went back for the second load which was mostly just the frustrating last minute, fiddly things plus a book shelf and laura's foamie mattress. once unloading was done lisa helped laura unpack her cooler into the fridge. lisa also brought cleaning supplies and a roll of toilet paper just in case. "don't you want me to help you unpack?" asked lisa. laura looked around at the chaos of her new home. "no." she said.

lisa followed her to the clubhouse to drop off the cargo van and drove her back to her car. lisa is the kind of friend that is one in a million, thought laura. the kind of friend you can always rely on. lisa is above and beyond. i'm lucky to have the friends i do, thought laura. lisa took the thanks lightly "you'd do the same for me." she said. i would, thought laura, but not half so well.

left to herself laura took the load of quarantined books and sundries in ziplocks that had been waiting in her car since the day before to the new place. she loaded them carefully in her closet. soon you'll be free, she told them. the truth was she was getting a freezer from doug and delanie, not to mention a bed, a dresser and possibly some bookshelves.

last to come were the cats. izzy as always was a breeze to cage up. archie was increasingly difficult. archie left a sleeve of fur on laura's sweaty arm from their tussle to cage him. in the end he relented with a pitiful meow but not before he punctured her arm with his hind paws. the betrayal! they mourned and railed at her the whole five minutes to new place. we trusted you! we don't like this vibrating brrooom brrooom machine! we're going to run away! where's our nice mom?? we don't deserve this! you're mean! but once in the house they were silent. laura put the cages on the couch before she opened them so they could smell something familiar. surprisingly the cats made little fuss. minimal meowing. minimal hiding. lots of sniffing and rubbing as can be expected.

it was not until she walked past the bathroom that laura noted the rankness. it wasn't her litter box. it was a reek from tim's messy cat and the mess she left behind. yuck, thought laura as she wrinkled up her nose. i'm going to have to fix that.

and that is why the bathroom was the rankest.