Since I was a teenager, my mother Leonides, assigned me to clean the house, my sister Maria Teresa, did not do any work, she was the spoiled of my mother. The rest of the housework was done by my sister Aurora, since our mother had a lot of sewing to do for her clients. We, so that she could perform in her work, helped her in this way, in addition to attending to our studies.
My mother loved it when, after cleaning the floor of the house with detergents, the last scrubbing of the floor had to be done impregnated with a decoction she made according to her instructions, with spices of star anise, sweet anise and cloves, dissolved in water. Leonides told me:
"This incense is applied on Fridays because it brings good vibrations to the house", she took a deep breath and added:
"Besides, it leaves a pleasant smell in the atmosphere. With its cleanliness and freshness, I feel an inner peace in my organism".
After cleaning, I used to light a match scented with tangerine and place it in a container, so that its aroma would spread throughout the house. That filled me with happiness. When this activity was over and Aurora had finished the other chores around the house, we would do our school homework together. Then we would ask my mother for permission:
"Tomorrow, Saturday, we are going to the beach with some classmates."
My mother would reply: "They deserve that excursion, they have been very good".
When we were coming back from the beach, my mother said to us:
"Tomorrow, Sunday, you have to clean the kitchen because there are a lot of cockroaches." She would raise her head, then bend down, look under the shelves and say:
"In this kitchen there is a centipede, because cockroaches wreak havoc."
She rebutted, "We have to find it."
The next day, we started that cleanup. There were cockroaches flying over our heads, they looked like uncontrolled helicopters.
My sister Maria Teresa was running all over the house, she was terrified of them, so she climbed on a chair, dropped it, when she was on the floor a cockroach got stuck in her back, she got up and climbed on the dining room table, when suddenly a centipede came out from under the table. She let out a scream of terror:
"Momaaaaaaaaaaaaa........ ayudameeeeeeeeeeee
Mom jumped off the sewing machine and ran in terror to her spoiled daughter, who, jumped off the table and hugged her neck, Leonides grabbed her hands and said:
"Calm down, I have a feeling you're going to have a heart attack from the terror you're having."
At that instant My sister saw the centipede again, and went into a state of panic, her face paled like the pallor of the magnolia flower, soon after stammering words she says to it:
"Mom, look at it where it's going, I have a feeling it's going to sting me".
My mother saw it, it was a short distance from her, she squared herself with a stick to hit it, the little animal ran quickly like the river when it is growing. Leonides walked squatting, she did not see it anymore.
Meanwhile Aurora and I who were present, in front of our sister, very excited, shouted to him:
"That scare you gave yourself happened to you because you were lazy"
we let out a loud laugh and mockingly I told her:
"That was a consequence of never having had a sweeping brush in your hands to clean the house"
We finished that cleaning and then we fumigated. The cockroaches and all the insects disappeared. After that incident, everything went back to normal.
We were very poor, but we enjoyed cleaning the house and that filled us with well-being and happiness.
Years went by, until we became adults and got married. When I started married life, I loved to clean every day,inclusing the furniture, changing its position. Every Friday I did a thorough cleaning. I was fascinated by perfuming my house with tangerine scents. But the day I stood out for placing those scents was December 21, which celebrates the Christmas spirit. On that day I feel happy placing them, so much so that life rewarded me by allowing me to give birth that day to my last child. When they took me to give birth, my hands were still impregnated with the scent of that essence.
Today I am very old, but even so, I still keep my house clean every day. Especially on Fridays and Christmas spirit day, when the lady finishes cleaning. I place tangerine scented matches. These aspects in my house. They comfort me and make me very happy, as I evoke memories of my youth.
This is a non-fiction story
I hope you like it
the drawings are mine
use deepl translator