The Endless Cycle
The Halls of Pandemonium - Day 23
The Halls of Pandemonium - Day 23
Prompt: You saw it in a dream. A machine, built from readily available parts, but unlike anything you’ve ever encountered. When you woke up, you wrote down the plans got to work. Write a story or poem about what this machine is, and what happens when you turn it on…
I’m taking part in the Halls of Pandemonium challenge, run by Bradley Ramsey and Lord Devereaux. I may not take part every day, like I did in Flash Fiction February, but I will have fun and see how I go!
It is not the most exciting story, but I wish it was real!
The same as last time, every like, comment and restack earns points towards the challenge, so if you enjoy what you read, please let me and others know!
And don’t forget to check out some of the other stories in the challenge!
Stella flopped down onto the bed, exhausted. Everyone was finally asleep. She wanted to relax, to do nothing, but guilt stared at her from the corner. A massive pile of laundry to be folded. She rolled over, only to be greeted by an overflowing dirty clothes basket.
‘How does one family go through so much clothing?’ she thought to herself.
That night, she dreamt restless dreams of endless piles of washing. Dirty, clean, folding, ironing, the never-ending cycle. And then in her sleep, something came to her, and everything went calm.
Stella woke, feeling well rested for the first time in a long time. She paused, wondering why she felt so calm when she recalled her dream.
She sat bolt upright in bed, grabbed a pen and paper and started scribbling. Between breakfast, packing lunches, and getting everyone dressed, she kept scribbling. It seemed complicated, but to her it made perfect sense. Somehow, she knew just what to do.
Once school drop-offs were done, she got to work.
‘Ta-da!’ declared Stella to the family that night.
She revealed something that looked a little like a washing machine and a conveyor belt combined, with a lot of pipes snaking out of the top.
‘What is it?’ asked her husband.
‘This is the answer to the never-ending laundry problem!’ She was giddy with excitement.
‘Add each item of clothing here.’ She pointed to a chute on one side. ‘Then press the button indicating where it is meant to go, and then that’s it!’
She grabbed a shirt from the laundry pile. It was her son John’s favourite football jersey. She fed it into the slot, pressed the button indicating John’s dresser and stood back with a flourish.
‘It will wash it perfectly, dry it, iron if needed, and then put it in the correct drawer.’ The machine gave off a soft ding.
‘Let me show you!’ Stella ran off to her son’s room with the family trailing behind.
She opened the drawer, and the jersey was there, clean, fresh-smelling and perfectly folded.
‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ said John, ‘How does it work?’
‘It’s hard to explain,’ admitted Stella. ‘I just knew what to do. But you can only put one item of clothing at a time, or it malfunctions. Paired items like socks can go together, but that’s it. So now, each of you can drop one item at a time in this chute, and we will never have dirty laundry again!’
‘What happens if you put more than one item?’ asked Toby, her curious younger son.
‘I’m not really sure why, but it basically deconstructs the clothing, and you get left with a pile of fabric, zips, buttons, etc. So no funny business.’ She gave her sons a warning look when she saw their cheeky grins.
That night, Stella fell into bed, exhausted as usual, but this time there were no accusatory piles of laundry staring at her from the corner of the room.
Thank you for reading.
Would you buy this item if it was real?
Disclaimer: I sometimes use AI as a sounding board during edits, but all writing is my own.
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If only it was that easy
This was so cute! It reminded me of the mom on Sing who just wants to live her dream!