The Race

Short Story Day 68 of 365

Illustration by 7086943 on Pixabay

Mop, Broom, and Vacuum lined up in the bathroom waiting for their signal to start. As soon as Tenant closed the front door and the moving truck was started, they would be off, but not a second sooner.

All three had been boasting about their excellent skills but only one would be proven right today.

Each had an assigned area to clean, but Vacuum volunteered to clean double the space as the other two because, well, he could. It would be the first time he’d use his dual motor to give him superior suction that would easily catapult him to victory. The Tenant never saw the need to use both motors – or perhaps he didn’t really know how, but this was Vacuum’s ace in the hole.

Even at the starting line, each continued to brag about previous accomplishments. None of them had gone head to head to head before. This was also the first time they were all together in the same room at one time.

Tenant closed the door and locked it. It was only a matter of seconds now. The three cleaners listened intently to the outside noises. Tenant was speaking with Mrs. Tenant but what they were discussing was muffled.

Mrs. Tenant closed her car door and then came the truck door. It wouldn’t be long now.

The truck fired up and the cleaners were off.

Broom and Mop worked in tandem for their area and Vacuum headed for the large open space carpet. He didn’t need both motors to get there, but once there, stood outside the room and simply said, “You’re all mine.”

Meanwhile, Broom cleaned a small square area and Mop was right behind. Even though they hadn’t worked in such close proximity together, it was as if they had been doing this for years. One square yard at a time, steady was their pace.

The low roar of the single motor changed drastically as soon as Vacuum flipped on his second motor.

For two whole seconds, the sound of a dual motor cleaning machine was sweet.

Then, in an instant, both motors cut out. This had never happened before. What was wrong? Why did both motors cut out when the second motor roared to life?

The breaker.

Vacuum had heard about that before but never knew where Tenant went to fix it.

“Hey guys,” Vacuum said. “I’ll need a little extra time. I think something happened to the breaker.”

“A deal’s a deal, Vac. We’re almost done. You can’t go back on your word now. By the way, what’s a breaker?”