cimorene

earlier today i took apart the exhaust fan over the stove and scrubbed all the bits and then soaked and scrubbed off a solid centimeter of oily dust from the metal grating. also, dragged the stove out from the wall and vaccuumed behind it and scrubbed the wall. i came out of the kitchen feeling shaky and staring blankly.

"do you feel totally knackered now that you've cleaned the entire kitchen?" enquired my better half.

"no, it's just i feel like - whenever i give in to my OCD, i feel sort of dirty. it's the same as if i've spent hours making icons," i explained.

"but this time it's good," she ventured. "because you cleaned the kitchen. so you feel, what, embarrassed?"

"maybe," i said, "kind of."