Dash Dash Dot Dot

Cleaning house

It had been a week and a half since Willow had left the hospital, and now she stood in the middle of her sister's apartment. The spare room had been shut off with a sign telling people not to go in. The rest of her sister’s belongings and furniture were up for sale. Her parents decided this would be easier, getting other people to take things away themselves rather than trying to take all of her sister’s belongings down for donation. This was day two of this open house sale and word had spread so there were a lot of people digging through the closets and cupboards. Damian stood at her side. The pair watched as the neighbors and strangers raided Katie's belongings. Damian had contacted Katie's other friends who had done the same thing before this.

"This is so hard to watch." Willow whispered to him as an older lady dropped a pile of clothes at their feet.

"There are five dresses, two pants and seven tops. Oh, and a white teddy too."

"Uh, fifteen bucks." Willow said and watched the woman dig through her wallet. Damian bent down and piled the clothes into a scented garbage bag, holding the handles out to the woman. She smiled and jammed the money into Willow's hand then took the bag and left.

"I know," he continued the conversation. "But your parents are right, the more we can sell the easier it will be to move the remaining stuff. Katie was only slightly a hoarder." Willow nodded in agreement.

There was still a lot of stuff here, but it was only half of what had been there the previous day. Most of the large furniture had been taken earlier that morning. The person had just moved out on their own but didn't have any furniture except their bed and a lounge chair. Their friend had seen the sale on social media and the pair had shown up as soon as Damian opened the door to Katie's apartment, in the friend's Ute, they very quickly laid claim on much of the furniture and white goods, handing over more money than was asked for as they would need to make several trips to move everything and didn't want the items sold while they were gone. They even took the exercise bike.

All of the cat stuff had been packed up in boxes in the spare room, ready to be loaded onto the plane when her parents left. Willow's dad had decided that he wanted to take Kransky home with him. Willow had to hide the smirk on her face when he told her; she knew he wouldn't be able to say no. Katie would be pleased. Her dad had even contacted the vet that Katie took Kransky too and got all the medical files sent over to his local vet. Willow was relieved that she didn't have to try to convince her landlord to allow her to take the cat in. There were a few items that Willow, Damian or her parents couldn't part with that were stored behind the door with the cat stuff.

"Well at least we know Kransky is going to be spoilt rotten." Willow said then continued, "By the man that 'doesn't like cats', the big softy." Damian laughed.

"Yeah, I'm glad we didn't have to take her to the pound or try to rehome her, and at least she knows your dad and likes him. I've seen her take a swing at people who were annoying her too much for her liking. And they weren't even doing a whole lot to her except maybe looking at her."

***

It was five past six in the evening by the time they closed the door after the last person. During the day as things emptied out they would move stuff to the lounge room and close off the other doors. Willow, Damian and her parents sat on the floor and looked at the remaining items. Mostly kitchen stuff remained, like dishes and cutlery. They let Kransky out; this would be her last night in this apartment. The cat sniffed every inch of the lounge room. The amount of people that come through would have left plenty of interesting smells for her. Willow's dad chuckled when she looked up at him after sniffing a spot and pulled the 'stank face' that cats do.

"Yeah, we knew you liked cats, dad."

"No." He said. "I don't like cats. I like this cat. She's got moxie." The other three laughed, nodded and exchanged knowing looks. "Anyway, she may not be too happy tomorrow when she's in the belly of a plane being whisked away from here."

"I think the fact that she will wake up seeing you will help her though," Willow replied, watching as the cat curled up in a ball against her father's legs and began to purr loudly. "See, she likes you too." Her dad opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind and just poked out his tongue at her. That caused the other three to laugh again.

"Well I think it's time for dinner anyway." Her dad said looking around at the near empty room then his eyes settling on the cat snuggled up against him, he reached down and scratched her under the chin. "I'm thinking of the Chinese place at the Karabar shops. My shout." He said as he got to his feet and then helped his wife up as well.

Everyone was trying not to let the sadness show to each other. Willow's parents were leaving the following day and Willow and Damian would finish the cleaning of Katie's apartment before handing over the keys to the real estate. The landlord and real estate had been very accommodating when they were told what had happened with Katie. They said that Katie had always been a good tenant and that they would give the family and friends two weeks from when they were informed about Katie's death to empty out the apartment.