Day 242: Maple Cleans Her House

She wakes up on a pile of clothes. She wouldn’t slept on her bed, but it’s housing another pile of clothes. So it’s be like sleeping on a steeper mountain of clothes. Maple is afraid of heights. She’s fine with sleeping on the lower mountain. The bunny slope, if it were. She sleepily gazes around her house. How did she acquire so much stuff? She makes a tea and ponders what to do about the mess today. The place could really use a good dusting. But if half of the stuff needs to be thrown out, what would be the point of dusting?

There’s a knock on the door. Of course. It’s Coze and it looks like he hasn’t slept in days. But she can’t let him see her house like this. He’s kind of sort of the mayor, she thinks. If he gets a whiff of what’s going on, he could report her to the Happy Home Academy.

Hello? Mapes?

Just a minute!

She opens the door a crack, as sprinkles of dust float towards his face.

Can I sleep in your bed? Just for a couple of hours?

Umm…uhh…

I got in from Tulip Town late. When I got home, Stitches was in my bed. I think he thought it was his house again. There’s no waking up that kid.

But you could use Stitches bed?

I tried. It’s covered in chocolate.

And the Hammock?

Dom’s using it for something called Astro Strongman.

Oh. Well, I suppose you cou—

Coze goes right in the door before she could finish her sentence. He doesn’t notice the stacks of newspapers or the unorganized board game pieces. He goes straight to the bed and starts snoring.

She thinks to herself that if she can clean the house before Coze wakes up, he won’t have to get her evicted. It’s a long shot, but it just might work. But she looks around and is immediately overwhelmed. Where does she actually start? Does she even have space to store all of this stuff?

She can’t move the newspapers by herself. They’re far too heavy. And looking around, she doesn’t have the heart to send anything to the void. She can’t throw away the baby bear, because Bones gave that to her before he moved. She doesn’t have the heart to void the extra sitting cushions that Toby didn’t realize she already had. Nor can she get rid of the flapper dress that Audie thought would look “trays cheek”. All of this “junk” that she’ll never use were actually thoughtful gifts from her neighbors. Some of them are even from The Coze himself. A whole shipping crate full of iron wall lamps that she’ll never hang. Maybe Tom Nook will open up storage units soon. Or maybe she should try to let go of some stuff.

She can’t get rid of the tools or the tool shelf. She’ll might need them someday. She doesn’t know how to use any of them, but they’re always a good thing to have. And the baseball bat. She doesn’t really need THAT anymore. Pietro moved out ages ago, she doesn’t need to defend herself against any more night clowns. But there’s a chance that he can come back. She doesn’t want to risk it. Looks like the bat stays.

As she ponders what to do with her 5 teapots, she hears yelling outside.

Call me Babe Sanders Jr!

[crack]

Darnit!

Lemme try! I’m Barry Bonzilla!

You wish!

[crack]

Awww man!

Maple wipes the dirt off her window to see what the commotion is. Dom and Roald are tossing a baseball around, trying to hit it with tree branches that Dotty keeps dutifully shaking loose. They seem to have a good system going, but the branches keep breaking. What they lack in smarts they make up for in ambition. But if they don’t move away from the house, they’re surely going to wake Coze up. Maple heads to the door to shoo them but then has an idea.

I’m Bruce Hooper! The third!

[crack]

Man!

Hey guys, it looks like you could use a baseball bat.

What makes you say that?

Oh, just a hunch.

Wait, Maple, you have a bat? Hot diggity dog!

Just one favor.

For a bat, we’ll do two!

Maybe later, you guys could help me clean out some newspaper stacks?

I dunno, that sounds an awful lot like work.

Don’t think of it as that. Think of it as a strongman contest. You guys are strong, right?

Oh yeah! Me and Roald are real swole. We’re so awoke, it’s swell!

We’re so swell-ly swole, we get randomly tested!

I get tested all the time! I always answer C. Never fails!

But what will Dotty do? She’s our tree shaker!

She can be coach!

Yee!

And now that you guys are official, maybe you can play on the real field? You know, the one on the other side of the island?

Naturally! What good is a baseball field without two buff dudes like us hitting taters out of it?!?

Dom, Coach Dotty, race y’all there!

And they’re gone in a cloud of dust. But what Maple didn’t notice was Coze standing right behind her, watching the exchange. He rubs his eyes and stretches.

Oh man, thanks a million! Hey, if they’re playing baseball, I’m not missing it for the world. You coming?

It looks like he didn’t notice that her house was a mess. Maybe she’s in the clear after all.

I should really do some things around the house…

C’monnnnnnnnn!

Maple shrugs and starts walking with him. She already got a lot of work done today. No use wasting such beautiful weather. Because who needs a clean house when you have good friends?

Hey Coze, I’ve got a question.

Shoot.

What’s baseball?

– TeeCoZee