Story of Janet and the Bleach

My sister Janet was the baby of the family for many years. She is a unique individual that was first noted in her first years and continues to this day. She is beyond fear, has a great capacity for love, has a caring nature of all living things, and can take whatever life can dishes out and she has the scars to prove it. She is difficult to understand at times, yet she is very easy to love. She is the shortest in height of all my sisters but the tallest of us all in character. She is the “salt of the earth” but is soft and gentle as a soft summer wind. She is the one that I have given the greatest psychological harm to, (i.e.: previous story), but the one I have and will forever give my greatest respect. To this day I don’t know how she does what she does. This story in one of the best stories I remember of my little sister.




My father gave nicknames to all of us girls with the exception of me. Janet’s nickname was Jinxy Falkenberger. It was later reduced to Jinxy, then Jinx. What is unusual was that she earned her nickname. When she was very young she would try to help everyone; Mom, Dad, and her sisters. The problem was that no matter what she did, it always came out wrong. Her heart was in the right place, and therefore it was impossible to scold, punish or ever yell at her. This story is a case in point.



Mom and Dad have replaced the kitchen floor with linoleum tiles. The tiles were the color of green grass with streaks of white. The setting of this story occurred a few weeks after the new floor was installed. I woke up and came down to the kitchen. The house was very quiet so I thought I was the first one up. Wrong. There was 3 year old Janet in the kitchen dressed only in her underwear. She was standing next to a bucket and trying to use a mop in the manner it is intended for. The sight was comical since the mop towered over her by many feet. The mop was very wet and you could tell that she was in the process of mopping the floor. The problem was that there was a distinctive odor coming from the bucket and the floor.



When asked, she stated that she wanted to mop the floor for mother. Apparently she had trouble getting the bucket to the sink, filling it with water, and then placing the bucket on the floor. She was just too little. So she came up with a better idea. She used the only source of liquid that she could handle and reach. Under the sink and next to the bucket was a container of Clorox bleach. She had completed half of the floor. The beautiful green tile was never as green again.



Lesson: Love your little sister, but watch up for them. They can be your biggest source of frustration.