‘Right.’ I swallow down a pang of alarm. I’d hoped there would be someone to guide me on my first day in the job, but Mrs West must think I’ll be fine on my own…
We reach the first floor and I glance at the endless corridor, with dozens of bedroom doors off it. Four days to clean all of this? It must be possible, though, because otherwise Mrs West wouldn’t have agreed to it with the owners.
‘You do want this job, Lucy?’ She frowns at me. ‘Because it’s fine if you’ve changed your mind. I can easily call someone to take your place. Someone who’s eager to work.’
I shake my head. ‘No. I mean yes, of course I want it.’ I put down the hoover and roll up my sleeves to demonstrate I’m keen to start.
‘Well, if you’re sure.’ She looks doubtful now.
Panic rises up inside. ‘No, honestly, I can do it! You’ve no need to worry, Mrs West. It’ll be gleaming by Thursday.’
Even if I have to work through the night, I’ll make sure I do a great job. And at least if I’m working alone, I won’t have someone looking over my shoulder, criticising my cleaning methods!
‘It probably seems a bit daunting, this being your first day,’ she says, her face softening. ‘I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll speak to the owners and see if I can wangle an extra day to complete the job. How’s that?’
‘Great!’ I’m doing frantic calculations in my head. Twenty-four bedrooms. That’s roughly five to be cleaned every day. Except it isn’t. Because there’s the restaurant and kitchen, plus the reception area to tackle as well. And what about things like windows? There must be dozens of the things!
‘Do I…am I cleaning the windows as well?’ I ask.
Mrs West smiles. ‘Dearie me, I’m not expecting you to be superwoman, Lucy.’ She pats my arm, and I nod and laugh with relief.
‘No, no, I’ll get a window cleaner in to do the outside. You’ll just be doing the inside of the windows.’
My smile slips, and Mrs West, seeing my alarm, leans closer and murmurs, ‘Don’t worry. Once you’ve tackled a few jobs like this, it’ll get much easier, trust me.’
I nod, telling myself she knows what she’s talking about.
‘The fact that you’ve never done this type of work before is a bit of a worry, I must admit. But I have every confidence in you.’ She shrugs. ‘With valuable hands-on experience like I’m offering you, you’ll be an expert cleaner in no time, Lucy. And then you’ll never be without a job, because people will always needs cleaners.’
I feel my spirits rally a little. ‘Right, where shall I start?’
Mrs West’s face spreads into an appreciative smile. ‘That’s the spirit, Lucy. How about we begin in here?’ She unlocks a nearby door with a key card and ushers me in.
*****
It’s just after six in the evening, and I’ve been working all day, non-stop, since Mrs West left me around ten-thirty.
I’ve discovered I don’t mind cleaning. I guess it might become quite monotonous after a while, but then, so do lots of jobs. The trick, I’ve found, is to set yourself a short-term goal, which spurs you on. So I’ve been cleaning one room, then trying to beat the time it’s taken me when I tackle the next one.
The only time I came unstuck in this was when I had to unblock a sink and a toilet in the same room. I don’t know what the occupant of the room had been doing, but it took me ages to get the water flowing smoothly again (clearly one of the less glamorous aspects of the job!)
I’d be happy to carry on cleaning into the night to make the deadline, but I’m feeling really hungry now, so I’m going to have to stop work for the day once I’ve finished bedroom number seven. Tomorrow, I’ll bring food with me so that I can carry on later if I want to.
I’m scrubbing the bath, when I hear a noise downstairs. I stop and strain to listen. I can hear someone coming up the stairs, talking into their phone. It’s Mrs West.
‘Lucy?’ she calls.
I rush to the door and pop my head out into the corridor. ‘Here, Mrs West.’
‘Ah. Right.’ She walks into the bedroom I’m working on, looking around her critically. ‘How’s it been going?’
‘Fine, thanks. I’ve done seven bedrooms so far and I’m planning to make an early start in the morning.’
She nods approvingly. ‘Excellent. Yes, it all looks so much better that it was.’ She wanders into the bathroom. ‘Lovely shine on that bath.’
‘Good.’ I follow her in, delighted she’s pleased.
‘You might want to polish the aluminium taps a bit. They need to shine. I’ll get you some special cleaning fluid for that. And the white grouting between the tiles could be a little brighter. A toothbrush works wonders for that. I’ll bring one over.’
I stare at the tiles covering the whole of one wall, my heart sinking. ‘Erm, fine. Yes, no problem, Mrs West.’
The grouting looks fine to me, but if I’m going to have to go over it all with a toothbrush and polish the taps as well, that’s really going to take time. It looks like I might be working till past midnight tomorrow. Still, as long as I’m getting paid for all those hours, that’s fine by me. I want to earn enough to afford a permanent plot on a camping site. I don’t want to be a nuisance, parked on Mrs West’s driveway for any longer than I have to be…
‘We don’t want to cut corners, do we, Lucy?’ Mrs West’s look is severe.
‘No, of course not.’
I was going to ask her about wages, but now doesn’t feel like the right time. I’ll ask her tomorrow.
Her eyebrows arch. ‘Oh, I almost forgot. Your advance.’ She brings an envelope out of her handbag and hands it to me.
I take it and look inside. There are two crisp twenties and one ten-pound note.
‘Thank you.’ My face feels hot with gratitude.
She brushes away my thanks with a little wave. ‘I’ll drop in the cleaning fluid tomorrow. Make sure you lock up when you leave.’
After she’s gone, I walk round checking all the bedrooms I’ve cleaned so far, squinting critically at the bathroom tiles.
And then I see it.
A large spider on the carpet just beyond the bathroom door.
Fear freezes me to the spot and my heart starts hammering furiously.
It’s just crouching there, watching me. But any moment, those long black legs will start to move, crawling over the carpet towards me…
What do I do? Run away? But if I run away, it’ll still be there, waiting to terrify the next guest that stays in this room. And I can’t live with that guilt. I have to get rid of it. But how?
I can’t bring myself to kill it. Partly because it’s a living thing but mainly because it would make a horrible mess on the carpet that I’d have to clean up. Oh, God, it’s climbing up the side of the bed now and…disappearing under the duvet! Aargh! That’s a guest’s worst nightmare, right there. A spider in bed with them. I’ve got to do something. It might scuttle off where it came from. But knowing my luck, when Mrs West comes to inspect the room, the bloody thing will be parked right in the centre of that white duvet, enjoying the full three-star hotel experience!