I want to thank my dear friend Randy for his help as he put together the HTML, and for his support and friendship. Then to Kariina for her support in editing as well as her friendship. And, of course, my thanks to other friends and you, my loyal readers.

This is dedicated to my beloved for many reasons and we both are fans of Orlando.

Jonathon

Charlie had left for school, now it was up to me to help out and get our laundry caught up. It had been at least five years since I'd done any for myself or someone else.

Had it been that long? As I tried to think back on it, I'd watched other people do it plenty of times. But since I'd left home at the age of sixteen, I'd always managed to find some girl or mate to help me out on it.

Mum's washer had been an old thing that used to shake that part of the house when it ran. By the time I was ten or so, she'd taught me all about it. Put in the clothes, the detergent and set it to normal.

We hadn't had a good water heater, so the water temperature always was set to cold. I already knew that Charlie's was good for it, so I decided it was okay to use hot instead.

I was vaguely remembering something about sorting things. Bloody hell, what was I supposed to sort?

Maybe it was sorting by heavy shite like jeans when compared to thinner stuff like shirts. I grinned to myself. That was it, I was sure of it!

Hmm, towels would be heavy, so would socks. I was anxious to have some of my new things clean, so I decided on a few pairs of my jeans, all the white sport type socks that Charlie and I had been wearing, and get some of those big fluffy white towels we'd been using up ready to go again.

His washer was a lil different than mum's had been, it loaded through the front. I'd never paid much attention when I'd gone to the laundrette with people, but a washer was a washer.

Since I couldn't pour in the detergent from the top, I'd have to do it before I started it up. The measuring cup on the shelf looked too clean to use, so I left it where it sat.

Charlie had some liquid stuff for the soap, the big cap on it didn't look none too clean to be honest. Not that it was dirty, but it had a lot of the soap to the inside of it.

I took the cap off and then tried to decide on how much to use. It was new jeans in there and would take extra soap to get clean, right? And I'd bet it took extra with the liquid stuff. Why else would he have a few more jugs of it farther down the shelf?

When I lifted the jug of it, it seemed about halfway full. The rest of it should do fine, so I poured it in and closed the door. I adjusted the water temperature switch to hot, then tried to figure out what the other switches would do.

An extra rinse sounded good, it would maybe make the jeans a bit softer. Then I looked at the large dial. It didn't say `normal' anywheres on it. Bloody hell, this wasn't rocket science, right? There was a spot that said `regular' so I'd give that a try.

I pushed in on it and nothing happened. Easy enough, all I had to do was pull out on it. I tried that and it wouldn't budge. The machine looked new enough, but I guessed the knob was stuck was all. It took several tries, then the sodding thing came fully off!

Aw, fuck! I'd gone and broken Charlie's washer! It wasn't that I couldn't afford to buy him a new one, but I'd messed up and broken something major of his.

I was near to tears as I tried over and over to fit it back on the lil post sticking out. That's when I noticed a button right next to it all with the word `start' above it. Aw, bloody bloody hell!!

It may as well be running while I try to get that knob back on, so I pushed the button and it started right up. I tried the knob on the post again, and it wouldn`t go on. After a few more attempts, I decided it just needed a really good push, so with one hand over the other I set it against that lil post and pushed nearly as hard as I could. I could feel something give.

Fuck it all! Goddam this thing!! The whole sodding switch fell inside somewhere and there was no longer a lil post thingy sticking out.

That was when I noticed the suds coming out of it, all around the door. Aw, shite! I nearly thought to myself `what else could go wrong' but I'd learned to leave that question alone. When you ask that, you'll get an answer you don't like, it's guaranteed!

If I could have turned it off, I would have... but there wasn't an `off' switch anywhere. You can bet that if I hadn't broken that sodding switch, I would have been able to stop it.

It was pretty clear to me that I'd used too much of the laundry stuff, as the suds kept oozing out in an increasing amount. I didn't see a mop handy so I'd have to figure out where Charlie kept it.

I tried for a giant step over the growing puddle, but I didn't quite make it. Bloody hell! My feet slid out from under me and I fell backward, right into the middle of it.

There's not much in the world feels worse than getting all soaked in hot suds like that. At least it wasn't too hot, but felt really nasty. I was wet from my ankles to the back of my head.

Once I managed to get up, I decided to strip off right there. If I didn't, I'd be trailing the mess through the house.

I made it to the bedroom and found that Charlie had just one pair of boxers left clean in his drawer. Since I didn't feel right being home alone and naked, I pulled them on.

As I walked back to the kitchen, I could see the suds making their way in from the laundry room. It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough. Especially with the door closed. Damn, I had to find the mop and fast!

The house wasn't all that large and no matter where I searched, I failed to find a mop anywhere. Curiously, I did find a door that had a narrow flight of steps going up. I hadn't even noticed there was an upstairs to the place.

What the fuck was I to do? It was nearly enough to make a man pull his hair out, really.

Wait... I had the number for the one person should know where things were around here... momma!

I hated like hell to disturb the woman, but I was desperate. Pulling out my mobile, I located the entry that had her name by it. After I pushed the call button it rang and rang.

"Hello?" came her voice.

"Momma, it's Jonathon," I said.

"Hi, sweetie... why the call?"

"Momma, I need to know where Charlie keeps his mop. Would you have any idea on that?"

She gave out a small chuckle, "you'll find a bucket and a sponge under the kitchen sink. Charlie doesn't believe in mops."

"Shite!" I said before thinking.

Her voice became serious, "Jonathon, what's wrong?"

I then told her about my ordeal with the washer. She promised to be right over and she'd bring her mop.

While I waited for her, I got out the sponge and bucket, but I didn't manage to get much of it up. A mop was an absolute necessity for this sodding mess!

There was a knock at the door, and I went to let her in. Her eyes raked over my almost nude body, that's when I remembered I wasn't in more than a pair of boxers.

She didn't say a word but gave me a big wink. I turned a nice shade of crimson as I raced to the bedroom and found a pair of Charlie's jeans to wear.

Bloody hell, where was my mind? How could I have answered the door like that?

I was still embarrassed when I found momma standing in the kitchen looking over the mess. Only a few seconds later, we were both startled by a loud thumping from the laundry.

"It does that when you use too much soap," momma explained.

She went to a closet in the hall and did something and the noise stopped. That was a relief... the last thing I wanted was to be breaking his house too.

"Charlie is going to hate me when he sees this mess," I nearly cried.

"Not if we can get it all fixed up before he gets home," she said, and gave me a quick hug.

She was awesome to work with. First, we put all the laundry into plastic bags and hauled it to her car. She knew a place that could have it done in an hour or so.

I insisted on giving her the money for it, while she protested that she was just looking after her boys. We finally settled that I'd take her to lunch some day soon.

Then she showed me where Charlie kept what's called a `shop vac' and she gave me very clear instructions on how to work it. She wasn't taking any chances with me messing that up too. And I couldn't blame her one bloody bit!

Before she left, she called a repair place to come and fix the switch. They'd be there within the hour. With any luck, Charlie would never know how badly I'd fucked up!

Momma was back shortly, and together we finished cleaning up the suds from all over. Just as I was worrying about the repair people showing up soon enough, there was a knock on the door.

The man was nice enough, but was pretty grubby looking. All in all it didn't take him long to get it back to rights.

There was one unsettling part to it though- I walked in on him leaning over his tool box. He had that scary thing that most people think of as a `plumbers arse'.

If ever I was in need of loosing my wood, I'd only need to think back, to seeing him bent over and that nasty top of his fat hairy arse showing. It was that bad!

When he was nearly done, Charlie called. Momma answered it, and I had to wonder where I'd left my mobile and why he hadn't rang me on that instead of the house phone.

The conversation didn't go well- it was a fucking disaster! He had to know I was lying through my teeth. It was one thing, even as an actor, I couldn't do worth a damn.

I was almost in tears from the tone in his voice. All too soon he'd learned enough about me to spot my lies. There was a long pause in the conversation on his part.

"Charlie?" I said, hearing the temerity in my own voice.

"Jonathon, I'll be home as soon as my next class is over. And we're going to have a long long talk," he stated, his voice sounding like ice.

"Charlie, I love you," I replied, nearly sobbing.

He hung up without saying another word.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Jon Ryder