Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Friday, November 7, 2014

Demon of a Cleaner

See? Don't you wish you had one?
DMom’s kitchen and dining room floors were amazing.
Gleaming, shining clean.
Perfect for sliding about in one’s socks.
And the most exciting thing about her clean floors was the little demon that came out to clean them.
Let me tell you about it.
Once a week, Mom would move all of the kitchen and dining room chairs into the living room.
Which was an adventure itself. (See here. Go ahead. We’ll wait . . .)
And while my brother and I were thus engaged, she would get down on her hands and knees and scrub the floors.
And I do mean scrub.
Never, in the history of the world, were there cleaner floors.
I know, because I spent a lot of time down on them.
Ahem . . .
Following the scrubbing, Mom would bring out the wax.
And this was about the time that my brother and I would abandon our chair play and lay at the edge of the floor to watch.
Because after the wax was applied, the ‘demon’ came out.
It was green.
And had a rounded, wide head and a long, stiff tail.
And, if you looked carefully, little white eyes.
That stared at you.
It also had three sets of interchangeable little pads that snapped on and off.
Dark and ‘bristly’, Steel wooley, or white, soft and ‘puffy’.
It was the latter that created the longed-for shine.
Mom would turn the demon over, snap on the soft pads and then flip it back and hit the switch.
Instantly the wide, white pads would begin to spin.
This was the best part.
As she polished, Mom would move the demon closer and closer to George and I.
Closer.
Closer.
Bravely, we would hold our ground. Daring each other to be the last to head, shrieking, for the nearest couch.
I should point out, here, that I never won.
George has nerves of steel.
Brothers. Pfff . . .

There is a codicil:
Years later, when I was newly married with waxable floors, and my Mom had graduated to kitchen carpeting, I inherited the ‘demon’.
It still had the interchangeable pads.
And still achieved an amazing shine.
And still terrorized small children.
Full circle.

17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I think it's still going! $64.50 bought a lot of years! :)

      Delete
  2. Those things live forever....we have the hubs mothers and it still works a charm. I'll never get rid of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm pretty sure ours was yellow ... and the memory of it haunts me and induces guilt. My poor floors - minimal scrubbing and no wax ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm filled with satisfaction when I manage to wash mine. Once a month or so . . . ;)

      Delete
  4. I'm with Susan F. - minimal scrubbing and no wax ... guilty! Your mom was a hard worker. Like so many women in history.

    Guilty ... guilty ... guilty ... *slinks away*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I'm slinking away too. Sigh. Why did I write this story . . .

      Delete
  5. We were never chased by any green monsters in our childhood. Sheesh, now I wonder if Mom ever really loved us . . .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure green monsters are the ultimate symbol of love. I'm so sorry . . . ;)

      Delete
  6. I kept my Moms as well and I use it but don't know where to buy the wax she used I miss that

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, man. Wax? My husby was washing our wood floors with a bottle of 'recommended' wood floor cleaner. He dropped the bottle DOWN THE STAIRS. I scrubbed and scrubbed at the streaks all down the walls but they simply won't come off! I realized that the liquid is full of wax. Never realized it until that moment! So there you go. Wood floor cleaner is full of it!

      Delete
  7. What a fun memory. My mom has many wonderful qualities, but deep cleaning wasn't in her repertoire. Never had the pleasure of being scared by the demon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heehee! Come by our house, I'm sure I can arrange a meeting!

      Delete
  8. I could use one of those right now on these old linoleum floors.
    I operated an industrial sized polisher when I worked in a hospital kitchen, once a week it was my turn to buff the staff dining room floor. I was 19 and weighed about 5 pounds, more than once the heavy machine got away from me and knocked into the table legs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had the same job when I was 19! Oh the furniture - and people - I ran into . . .

      Delete
  9. Happy to say that's hubby's job around here! He made the mistake of using furniture polish one time BIG MISTAKE!!!

    ReplyDelete

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