A few months ago I was sweeping beneath a mirror by the front door, when I perceived something unfamiliar in the “dirt pile” that caught my eye just moments before it flew into the dustpan. Immersed in the familiar rhythm of sweeping the floor, I quickly whisked it away to the garbage can with barely a pause. Puzzled by the unknown debris, I could only speculate and wonder as to its origin as I continued on with my morning. I noticed it again a few weeks later and thought, “Hmmm… I probably should mention this to Tom.” Focused on the job at hand, I swept it into the waiting dustpan, dumped it in the garbage, and promptly forgot about it until several weeks later, when the mysterious fuzz materialized once more.
I was becoming concerned about the crack in the ceiling directly over the area where the mystery material kept appearing, and was a bit troubled at the thought something in the attic required immediate attention. With the unidentified fluff sprinkled about in the same place as before, I informed Tom of my concerns and the need to diagnose a potential problem. I pointed toward the evidence scattered about, “Could there possibly be an animal nesting in our attic?”… “It only appears occasionally!”… “I was ever-so-hesitant to inform you of something that could possibly require your handy-man skills for yet another task!”… “But I did manage to actually notice ‘it’ and alert you to the situation!”… As I presented my case, Tom considered the telltale signs and bent down for a closer look.
A cursory examination yielded the diagnosis… a small amount of the material pinched between his fingers, he held it up to the light and bellowed, “Jooohhhn!!! Have you been shaving in front of the hall mirror?” John quietly poked his head around the corner, and with a slight smile that slipped into a chuckle, he began to explain… “Yes, I shave in front of the mirror and after I’m finished I sweep up the hair that falls to the ground. But it’s a funny thing. Recently when I came back to sweep, the hair was gone and I knew if mom was unhappy about having to clean up after me she would have said ‘John, come sweep up this hair!’ But she never said anything, so I figured she was okay with it…”
With the mystery finally solved, we joined together in hearty laughter over the humorous chain of events. John discovered why he never “got in trouble” for leaving whiskers on the floor, Tom was grateful to not have another repair job, and I was relieved to know we didn’t have critters in the attic!
