Fish Mouths and Vacuum Bags

27^th November 2012

Dear Cassi,

       

I spent what little free time I had today clearing out my bedroom. For the last few months it has been nothing but a room to store my bed and other piles of junk. Now the detritus is home to fish moths.

       

The little silver wingless insects are all around the dust and decay that is their food and I can only scrape at the trash that has become so much a home for them. It took hours to make ready for the vacuum as the broom had much work to do, but when the time came my vacuum did nothing.

       

The old dirt devil’s engine fired but the brush was still as death and the belt that turned it had now long snapped. This is the world of depression, little sister, to find that all things had sat so long they no longer work. The last time I went to use this vacuum the bag had been eaten to shreds by insects.

       

The bags I had in the closet to replace this had been eaten, holed, and covered in dust. To add insult to injury grocery stores in my area no longer carried vacuum bags. It took more than a week to get the vacuum running that time and by then depression had made me useless. 

       

How can a simple thing be so large an issue? When the energy of the body is little and the hours few every action is a trial. If I could clean six hours a day for a month without interruption I would have my home passable. Still, every time I start I run into delays.

Stay on top of things, little sister

Richard Leland Neal