“How come you’re always cleaning?” Bikky asked his foster father one day.

Ryo smiled ruefully. “So we don’t get buried under all the dirt.” He’d always been a tidy person, always preferred having a place for everything and everything in its place, but since becoming a single father to a ten-year-old boy, keeping the apartment clean and tidy was a lot harder than it used to be. Sometimes it felt like he was only cleaning so that Bikky could mess the place up again.

“My dad hardly ever cleaned,” Bikky said, frowning. “I guess he was too busy, and he wasn’t home a lot anyway.”

“Your dad did the best he could, I don’t imagine it was easy for him, raising you by himself after your mom died.”

“You’re doing it though, taking care of me by yourself.”

“Yes, but you’re older now, more responsible than you were when you were little. Your dad… he was probably used to your mom taking care of you and keeping your home tidy. Then he was suddenly alone, trying to do everything by himself, missing your mom. It would’ve been a lot to deal with.”

“I guess.”

“I’m used to taking care of myself and my home, I’ve been doing it for years, and I knew having someone else to take care of would change things a bit, but I was prepared for that.” Ryo grinned. “Mostly. I’m still learning how to be a parent, but I think we’re doing okay.”

Bikky nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.”

“That’s good. And the cleaning… well, we only rent this apartment, it belongs to someone else; we pay them so we can live here. But if we’re too messy, we could be told we have to find somewhere else to live. I’m responsible for keeping everything clean and tidy. When our landlord comes by to check, he can see I’m doing a good job, and then the lease… that’s an agreement between me and the landlord… gets extended so we can keep living here.”

Frowning, Bikky considered what he’d been told. “I guess cleaning is pretty important then.”

“Yes, it is. If I do a bit every day, it doesn’t take long, but if I left everything until it got really messy, it would take hours. Putting things away once I’ve finished with them saves time.”

Bikky turned away “I’d better go tidy my room.”


The End