The plan was well underway.
Daisy rested herself on Donald’s shoulder, softly telling
him her ideas of what to do next. The Grump stood on the top of the bed looking
down at a legion of dust bunny workers, all pulling along socks from the
dresser. George helped to hold a sock in place as the others supported it with
legos, and slowly but surely a wall was being made.
“Great job guys!” Donald said with excitement, “but we only
have a few more minutes before my mom’s going to come in.” He reached under the
bed to put a pair of his best underwear in place.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
“Just a second!” Donald shouted out of instinct. He quietly
motioned to the dust bunnies to go under the bed and brace themselves for an
attack. He scooted across the floor and placed his dresser drawer back in it’s
place, aligned his bed skirt so to hide the dust bunnies from sight, and then
opened the door to find his mother tapping her foot with impatience.
“It better be clean Donald”
“Just finished the last little bit,” he said with a smile.
She walked around the room examining everything carefully.
She wiped her finger across the windowsill and examined it for dust. As she
expected, her finger was a dark black. She showed it to Donald.
“hmmm,” she said as if to suggest she was on to him.
She walked closer to the bed.
Every step Donald grew more tense. He was in this more than
he ever thought possible. He wasn’t just lying to his mom but he was actively
participating in a well-organized deception. He felt just like Kyle.
This was totally a Kyle thing to do.
She adjusted the
pillows on the bed.
“hmmm,” she said again.
hmmm what? He
thought. Does she know? How could she?
What will he say? Truly he couldn’t tell her that the dust bunnies could talk
and that they were his only friends! He would look mad.
“Is it okay mother?”
She paused for a second, as if she knew she was leaving him
there in agony.
“It’s…”
He couldn’t take another second.
“Perfect!”
She ran over and gave him the biggest hug.
“Son, you did wonderfully! I wouldn’t be the least bit
surprised if you had secret little helpers hiding under your bed!”
“What?! No!”
“I know you don’t really, I’m not crazy,” she laughed and
tufted his hair a bit. “It’s wonderful,” she said as she left the room.
As the door shut the dust bunnies came bursting out with
excitement, but Donald just lay on his bed, letting out a breath of relief.
“I can’t believe it worked!” said The Grump.
“And all thanks to Daisy!” said George.
“Oh, well thanks George,” she responded bashfully. “Donald,
are you alright?!”
“I’m doing great,” he said with half of a smile, but Donald
wasn’t doing great. Donald knew something that the dust bunnies hadn’t thought
of. Sooner or later his mom would find out and they’d all get vacuumed up.
“Hey, Donald, I’ve got another idea that I think might be
great,” Daisy interrupted his sad thoughts.
“Oh, and what’s that Daisy?”
“You could come party with us!”
“That does seem like a great idea.” Donald said, though his
thoughts were still on how to keep them hidden.
He thought about Daisy’s idea for quite a long bit. So long
that all the dust bunnies had stopped dancing and partying and had started to
fall asleep. The moon was up and it came shinning in through the window. What to do? He thought, but nothing came
to mind.
“You shouldn’t be looking like me kid.” The Grump said. He
was the only dust bunny still up.
“And what does that mean?” Donald said with a laugh.
“You look like that moon is sittin’ right on your shoulders.
Nothing should bring you down that much.”
“I’m not down, I’m just worried.”
“I don’t care what you call it kid, you got a case of the
grumps and you got it bad.”
“I was just realizing that you guys… well… you guys can’t
stay here forever.”
“Don’t you think I know that?”
“You do?”
“Of course I do, dust bunnies never stay one place for long.
Haven’t you ever wondered why we don’t usually talk to people?”
“I guess I hadn’t ‘til now.”
“It’s easier to say goodbye when you never say hello.”
“Well, I’m glad you said hello.”
“I am too kid.”
They both sat for a moment, taking in the moonlight,
realizing that the days they had were short.
“I don’t want you guys to leave,” Donald finally said with a
sigh.
“Well I can’t promise I’ll stay, but I do have an idea…”
“You dust bunnies are always coming up with ideas.”
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