Diana was done. She was frustrated, and she had finally made up her mind. This time, she was not letting it slide. She was going to teach her family a real lesson, not just a small reminder,r but something they would remember for the rest of their lives. She told the kids that they were going on a field trip, but to where? It was a surprise.
The kids went wild, they were imagining beaches, zoos, museums, and everything else, and anything that excited them. They ran to get dressed, brushed their hair, and put on their shoes, and they couldn’t stop moving. They were ready. Diana, instead of grabbing the car keys, just led them straight to the kitchen. The second, they realized the final stop was their own dishwasher.
Their excitement vanished, and confusion set in, but then real fear gripped them as they saw the dishwasher. Diana tried not to laugh, and she waved at the machine with a lot of excitement. She showed them how to use it, to open the door, put the dishes in, and that was it. The kids slumped and rolled their eyes, and Diana thought, finally, they got it. And for about a week and maybe eight days, they did.
Later, after a twelve-hour workday, Diana came home. She was exhausted and tired. She changed into comfy clothes, tied her hair up, and went to the kitchen for a glass of wine. She wanted peace, but instead she got nuts when she stared at the sink. There were seventeen cups, and her son had cleaned his room and somehow collected every milk cup in the house. And left them in the sink instead of the dishwasher it was empty. She screamed so loudly, and the neighbors probably heard it.
Her son ran in, panicked, and asked her what was wrong, but Diana just pointed at the mess. His only answer, “I don’t know,” and that was the last straw. She didn’t wait, and she ran to the garage to grab a big storage bin, and then she marched back into the kitchen. She started packing everything, and plates, bowls, cups, and silverware, it was all gone.
Greg, her husband, scared of her, asked what the kids were supposed to eat off. Diana took a deep breath and handed each kid one plate, one bowl, one cup, and one set of utensils, just the necessities. She told them that was all they got because it was just enough to get by. For days, the kids stayed quiet, and they cleaned their one dish every time. Even Greg was careful, and he drank his coffee from a tiny pink toy teacup, and then Diana discovered all twenty-five cups he had hidden at work.
But messes always came back. One night, their son climbed onto the counter to reach a high cabinet and pulled on the doors for balance, since the cabinet was old. It broke, and a bunch of old junk spilled, and trash was everywhere. Luckily, her son wasn’t hurt, and he was almost hit him. Diana ran over and lifted the cabinet, and the boy scrambled away, leaving her stuck. She balanced on an old phone book, held the cabinet with one hand, and tried to text Greg to ask for help. The phone slipped and it fell far away. Waiting felt endless, and Diana thought maybe she would be stuck there forever. Then the garage door opened.
From the front door came loud shouts from the police because her short text had somehow been seen as an emergency, and half the police department showed up. They found Diana messy and quietly yelling while she held the cabinet. The officers tried not to laugh, and Greg didn’t move, even when glitter got all over Diana’s hair as the cabinet was lifted away. A month later, she got the best sign. Her son walked in, and he sat on the bed and whispered the question she had been waiting for. He asked what he had to do to earn back the forks. And right then, Diana knew the lesson had finally stuck.
