Mother Dearest (part 1)

Inspired by true events

"I didn't just go to one shop, I went to five" father said with a hint of pride in his voice. "It did take a long time to choose the right machine but I had to be certain I wasn't buying something crap that would break in a year".

Infact I don't think father had ever chose a household appliance without searching a billion shops (slight exaggeration on my behalf).

Our washing machine had died on us and the fact that it had lasted about ten years just proved my father right about searching for a bargain. He had been looking for several weeks now and during this period the clothes were being washed on a daily basis by hand. The bedsheets were the hardest to do (as you can imagine); me or my sisters had to climb into the bath and stamp around on the sheets to give them a good going over, then mother would rinse, ring and hang them out to dry. Even though it sounds like fun it had started to wear mother down, so obviously the pressure was on for a new washing machine. Yet, father still managed to shop around and get the best deal out there.

"Look how many functions it has and have you seen the size of the drum?" father was showing his newly installed machine to mum's friend, who by the look on her face seemed impressed. Father had asked mum to christen the machine so she had left to collect a load.

On her return she started to load up the machine as per instructions.

"You only need to put half a cup of powder in one load as this is the latest model and it can clean just as good, if not better,with that amount rather than using a whole cup" father carried on bragging about his machine. "Now all you do is press this button, turn this knob and switch it on, tadaaa, listen to how much quieter it is than the normal machine".

For about five minutes into the wash father, mum's friend and us children stood and watched the machine listening to other facts about the new appliance. Mother had gone off to make some tea and every now and then would pop her head around and ask how much sugar etc, etc.

All of a sudden the machine started making a loud rumbling noise, chugg chugg chugg; it got louder and harder. Chugg, Chugg, bang bang the noise had got louder still and the machine started to move forward slightly.

Sheer panick on Dad's face "erm, I think I must have pressed the wrong button", chugg, rumble, the machine kept on making the noise. Trying to push the moving machine backwards into it's place and also pushing a load of buttons dad said "Errr, I will shut it off just to make sure it's not because the door wasn't closed properly". It just kept on making the noise and to make matters worse dad was having no luck in switching it off (something to do with water being in the drum and the door being locked, child proof, I don't know some super new function that dad had just boasted about). Dad was absolutely struggling now, faffing with this button and that switch, he honestly did not know what to do (not to mention the embarrassment infront of mum's friend).

Mother had heard the commotion and came back into the room. Seeing dad stressed she said "oh! move out the way I will fix it" saying this she took over with the button pushing. The noise just continued. Father was trying to explain to the friend that the machine is brand new and maybe he should call the company and complain when out of the blue mother had started kicking the washing machine and banging on the side really hard. I mean my mother was no footballer but I reckon she could have got the ball from one end of the pitch to the other, thats how hard she was kicking this brand new machine.

Father just looked on and before he could say anything the noise stopped. The machine was quiet and still processing the clothes. With everyone just looking at her, mother walked off back towards the kitchen and shouted, "There's no way I'm handwashing again; stupid machine, didn't even come with any free washing powder".