There was chocolate dripping down from the ceiling, chocolate chips all over the floor, the baby was screaming in the corner, Gabriel’s finger was dripping with blood, and my mother was coming home in 15 minutes. Looking around at the filthy counters and listening to the utter chaos around me, I knew I had to do something fast.
It all started when my mother told me she was going out for a couple of hours and asked me if could I watch the kids. I vaguely remember saying something like, “Yeah, sure, no problem, oh and while I’m at it I’ll clean up the entire house, bake with the kids and then bathe them.” I thought that two hours was an eternity and that I’d be reading on the couch by the time she returned. I was going to be the best babysitter ever. Admittedly this was the first time I had ever babysat, but…how hard could it be?
Ominous foreshadowing, you know what’s coming next. Yep. It turned out to be a disaster. It turned out that my little siblings were not interested in doing what I said and cleaning up a room each. Ok, a minor setback, but I was the world’s best babysitter so this was nothing I couldn’t handle. So I turned on some music and started to dance around the room, throwing toys into the baskets, tidying up the papers as I jogged on the spot. My siblings were still not impressed! Not only didn’t they want to join, they screamed and complained as I tidied up their stuff! It seems that my brother doesn’t like it if I turn off his x-box for him. He claimed I ruined his chances of getting to the next level. Seriously, who cares? It wasn’t even an interesting game. So he’ll play another football match. He loved doing that; what’s one more?
Apparently he didn’t care too much for that logic. Or maybe I’m misinterpreting his storming off to his room. The door slam is a pretty good indicator though.…
I decided to tackle the cleaning later. For now – bath time. That was a total disaster That went pretty well. Sort of.
Then we started baking. The thought did cross my mind that perhaps I should have bathed them after baking, but it was too late. Then the baby stated throwing eggs on the floor! Whilst I stared helplessly at the mess and spluttered wordlessly dealt with the situation calmly, my other siblings continued baking. The assorted ingredients in the bowl were:
- Eggs – with the shells.
- Lots and lots of sugar
- Sprinkles
- Apple juice
- Chocolate chips
- A banana
- Chocolate syrup
- Peas
- Cornflakes
When they started mixing, I noticed what they were doing and tried to grab the bowl out of their hands, knocking it on the floor just as they knocked it on the floor. Chocolate chips exploded across the floor and the sugar cascaded down like a flurry of snow. The rest of the mixture slowly oozed out and lazily conquered the floor, taking up permanent residence between some of the tiles. I yelled at everyone, causing them all to burst out crying The kids all burst out crying. I snatched the chocolate syrup from my sister and it squirted all over the ceiling My sister squirted chocolate syrup all over the ceiling and it began to drip down dramatically – drop by maddeningly slow drop.
A small beeping sound snapped us out of our argument discussion. My mother had texted. She would be home in 15 minutes. At last we united, and even my brother was coaxed out of his room by my frantic screams.
A SWATT team could have done no better. In 15 minutes, the kitchen was presentable; the kids were dumped in the bath or under the shower, and all the mess downstairs disappeared. When my mother came home, she told us all how proud she was that we all behaved nicely and made such a nice surprise of tidying up for her. When she asked about the brownies, I made some vague comment and was saved by her exclamation of horror. “Oh no, we have mould on the kitchen ceiling!” She rushed to call my father.
That should give me enough time to sort out all the stuff under the sofa.
