Packing everything but Polly Pocket's Plastic Shoe

Everything else is out.

May 01, 2026

The junk men took most of the stuff away. All that’s left are two substantial symbols of life: a bed and a piano. The latter is going in an hour. Your request to ride the piano on the way out playing Chopin’s Funeral March will not be met with smiles, you expect. The bed is easier. It’s one those magic mattresses that came in a box the size of a sugar cube and expanded into a King. It’s bulky but boneless, and you can guide it down the stairs like an inebriated giant.

There are still a million small things, mostly cleaning supplies. You look at a bottle of Bartender’s Friend and wonder what was on your mind when you bought it. Probably you were in the hardware store, a summer afternoon, nothing much in your head but chores. Why did you buy the foam stuff? Bartender’s Friend is known for the gritty stuff. The grit seemed to be the key ingredient. Had you been brainwashed decades before by commercials that promised foaming action? What is foaming action? How can foam do anything grit can’t? Did we all start to believe anything they’d say when “Scrubbing Bubbles” sold well? Bubbles cannot scrub.

You threw it in the cart and moved along. You probably got home and the wife asked why you bought the foaming stuff. You didn’t have a defense. You had no idea you would be staring at the bottle someday when everything was coming to an end. Why would you? It was a normal Saturday. After chores and a nap you’d grill some burgers.