A Message
Written by Julia Featherstone
I walk past the lift, it is out of order again. I am struggling with my shopping bags, one of them split five minutes after I left the shop and now, it has all gone wrong. The orange juice cartoon just exploded over my clean jacket, it is everywhere. I hope no one has seen me, I am nearly there now, but I still have ten flights of stairs to get up yet. I get my handkerchief out of my pocket, wrap it around my hand and open the door, the smell of urine hits me instantly. I walk up the stairs, I pass the ‘fuck you’ sign written on the wall, that means I only have three flights left to go. I increase my pace, all I can think about is the orange juice staining my jacket. I arrive at my large red door, someone has done graffiti on it since I have been out. It says ‘weirdo’, there is a picture too. I pull my key chain out of my pocket and put each of the keys into their designated locks. I twist them open, starting with the top lock and working my way down. You can never be too careful, especially with all these people around. All the locks are open so I take the keys out and put them back in my pocket. I pick up my shopping bags off the floor and put them back on the safe ground inside my flat. I relock the door, this time working from the bottom to the top, finishing by putting the latch on. I lean against the locked door and take a deep breath. I grab the shopping and rush into the living area, my checks will have to be made quickly today, I need to sort out the jacket. I finish them quickly, so I will have to go over them later, but the jacket is more important right now. I go to the cupboard in the kitchen labelled ‘cleaning products’ and then I find the section labelled ‘clothes products’ and in there I find the instant stain removal agent. I take a second to reflect upon how useful this system is in an emergency like this one. I fill the kitchen with warm water, approximately 24.5 degrees. It was a good job that I researched this before such an emergency had happened. I place the coat in the water and apply the product as directed, it will take approximately thirty minutes, after which time I need to place the jacket in the washing machine on a warm wash. I walk into the living room and sit on the pale blue sofa, suddenly something catches my eye. There is a light flashing on the side table, it is the light on the answer phone, it means that I have got a message. This light had only ever flashed two times before, I wont listen to it just yet, I will go and unpack the shopping first. I should have done it when I first got in, but the jacket distracted me. Yes, I better do that now, I have left it long enough as it is, the message will have to wait. I am making sure that I unpack the shopping extra carefully today, my hands are sweating so the jars slip out of my hand slightly. After this I will check over my jobs again, it is Wednesday, midweek that means that I have more to do today. The message will have to wait, I can not disrupt the system, it has been disturbed enough already as it is. I have finished putting the shopping away and there is only about a minute left before I need to put the jacket in the washing machine. It is important that I get it in straight away, if I don’t it might not be ready for tomorrow. Not that I normally go anywhere on a Thursday, but something may pop up and I may need it. Yes, it is a much better idea to get it cleaned and ironed tonight so that it is ready, just in case. I stick my head out of the kitchen door, the light is still flashing. I pull my head back into the kitchen and close the door. I go over to the sink and pull the plug out, the water swirls and gurgles loudly as it goes down. I pull out the jacket, it is very heavy because it is wet. I have to take extra care to make sure that I don’t get any splashes on the floor because that will mean that I have to do the floor as well and that is a job that gets done on a Friday night. Also, if I have to clean the floor tonight then I will never get to listen to the message. I ring my jacket out by squeezing it really tightly and looked at the patch where the orange juice had been spilt, it looked quite clean but it is best to put it in the washing machine straight away. The knob is on six, so I best turn it to three, that’s the perfect setting for this sort of problem.I put the washing powder back into the correct place and then I walk over to the answer phone. It keeps flashing red every three seconds or so. I wonder who it is, I bought it from Argos two years ago because I thought I might miss an important call I was waiting for from the insurance company. I have only ever received two messages on it. One was from me, I went downstairs and rang myself from the pay phone outside, I had wanted to check that it worked.