October 2023 Flash Lit 6 - Easy Does It

 “You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”  Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 7

 

 

 

Maddie looked at Zee.  “You don’t mean it,” she said.

 

Zee held out his arms, palms up, like a theatrical shrug.  The spiders in the corners, the only audience besides Maddie, were unimpressed.  “I do.”

 

“None of it,” she said.

 

“I don’t want a thing,” he insisted.  “You couldn’t pay me to take it.”

 

Maddie looked at the packed shelves, the slightly crushed cardboard boxes, the plastic bins overflowing with who knew what.  “Not even those pots?” she said, pointing at the stack of cookware.  “Those are better than what you have.”

 

“See,” Zee said.  “Your problem is that you are looking at the details.”

 

“My problem is that you are dumping all this on me.  She was your grandma, too,” Maddie said.

 

“If you want to spend six or seven or ten hours sorting through all of this, you do it.  You’ll probably find a few things that are useful.  Most of it won’t be useful.  You’ll be tired and dirty and sore.  Then you’ll have to find a place for whatever you decide to take,” Zee explained.

 

He gestured at the chaos.  “If we just assume that there is nothing here more valuable than our time, we can skip the sorting and go straight to dumpster.”

 

Maddie protested, “But Gran loved all this stuff!  She’d want us to have it.”

 

Zee picked up a chipped teapot.  “She did not love all of it.  She shoved it out here because she was old and tired and didn’t like making decisions.  She loved us.  She wouldn’t want us to waste a lovely day in this mess.”  He carried the teapot over to the trash bin, opened the lid, and grinned as it crashed to the bottom.

 

“You’re terrible,” Maddie said, tears welling in her eyes.

 

“Maybe,” he said.  “But I’m also right.”

 

“I can’t do it,” she said.

 

“Then you’re on your own,” he said.  “Let me know when you want me to call the dumpster people.”  Zee strolled down the driveway, got into his Bondo-and-rust VW, and putt-putted down the street.

 

Maddie turned back to the garage.  “I can’t believe Zee did that,” she muttered to herself as she tipped a load of dusty magazines into the recycling bin.