2988. A duty done © Bruce Goodman 8 February 2024

Mrs Amelia Cook was so old-fashioned that when she died anyone who had even the vaguest connection with her hoped that she had left nothing in her will to them. That was not to be the case for thirty year old Christine Finch. She got the lot; clothes, furniture, garden shed tools… you name it, poor Christine inherited it. The most annoying thing was that all it amounted to was that she was the one left to tidy up and get rid of all the stuff. Christine threw the clothes (minus the hats) into several loads of the washing machine. Not that anything was dirty, but she dried and folded things nicely and took them to the Thrift Shop. They told Christine that there was nothing of value there but they’d take the clothes and hang them up for sale. In fact, most of the clothes could do quite well in the fancy-dress section of the store. Next Christine got a man from the second hand furniture place to come and see if there was anything he wanted. There wasn’t, except for a few garden tools. They always sell well. Since Mrs Amelia Cook rented the house, Christine had only a short time to get rid of everything, so she hired a truck and with the help of a generous neighbour to help with the lifting took everything to the local dump. All that remained was to spring-clean the house. Christine’s task was complete! She had fulfilled a corporal work of mercy as required by her Church: “Bury the dead”. It had taken three weekends. Christine felt she had done her duty. And no, Dear Reader, there was no family fortune hidden away in the crevices of anything. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story