The Hoarder, Part 4 of 4

On Tuesday, Beatrice and Bunny showed up again and undid most of the meager progress Milton had made.  Bunny retrieved the gilt mirror frame from the truck because she planned to enroll in an oil-painting class after the move to the condo. She'd put that frame to use someday. The twins' scope of "things we might use in the condo" widened to include treasures from every room in the house. The items they declared off-limits in order to "think about them some more" included:

• Bookshelves, still crammed with moldy books,
• a turntable
• a collection of 78s that "might be valuable someday",
• curtains that never got hung, still in their vinyl packets,
• Aunt Veronica's collection of Beanie Babies and her novelty salt-and pepper shaker sets, and
• 12 perfect place settings of their grandmother's ugly wedding china.

The truck had been hired until Wednesday and was still less than a quarter full. That afternoon, the cleaning crew found a desiccated feline skeleton in the basement, buried under an avalanche of old newspapers.  When she saw the pathetic remains, Martha began to cry. "That's Topsy!" she shrieked at Milton. "You told me you saw her climb the fence and run away. Liar!"  Martha swung at him ineffectually with a broken umbrella. As Milton backed away, Emily moved in to comfort Martha with a hug. "Don't touch me!" screamed Martha.

On Wednesday morning, Emily and Dr. Thimble commended Milton on his progress and announced that he was now "empowered" to finish the project on his own. The truck left at 4:00, with room to spare. The dumpster was collected at 4:30. The cleaning crew left in their van at 5:00.  Milton was alone, because Martha had gone to her sister's on Tuesday to grieve for Topsy. She told Milton that he "had finally done it" and that she might never come back. 

Milton savored the silence, surrounded by his old friends, his things. He found a forgotten bottle of beer in the emptied refrigerator.  He ordered a pizza. While he waited, he dragged his ratty old recliner close to the TV and lay back. He'd find the remote later, he told himself as he dozed off.

Life was good.