The Best Way to Dust

Kitty kept a clean home. Though the neighborhood kids were convinced she was a witch and their parents all called her an old spinster, she was actually very pleasant to be around. I stopped to see her whenever I returned to my hometown because she was my mother's best friend. Mom passed away last winter from lung cancer and Kitty was at the funeral. It was probably the last time she actually left her house. When I last visited her, I could tell old Kitty was starting to lose the battle with father time. One moment she was telling stories about my mom and the next she couldn't remember my name. She even has trouble recalling the names of her cats. She's got about forty of them. One thing I will say is that old Kitty still knows how to clean. Her house is spotless and doesn't look a day older (on the inside, at least) then when I used to have cookies and milk there as a boy. I once asked her how she kept everything so clean and she started telling me about the best way to dust. She says she likes products from Fuller Brush.

A few minutes later, she went to the kitchen and returned with one of her many dusters made by Fuller Brush. I think she forgot she had company. She started dusting right in front of me and whistling while she worked. I couldn't place the tune, but I now know the best way to dust. Old Kitty cleaned tabletops in a single deft swipe. Like a surgeon, she dusted between every bauble and gewgaw, and believe me there were a lot of them.
Then she turned to face me and remembered I was there.

I hadn't seen her for several months when I heard she had passed away. I went back for the funeral, which was attended by a couple of her old friends and her few remaining relatives. Back at the house, they all told stories about the old witch of Maple Drive. They laughed when they said it, because all of them knew that Kitty was a kind old soul. The women all admired the condition she kept that old house in. They remarked that the old girl really did know the best way to dust. They knew she used products from Fuller Brush, but they all suspected she had another secret. In her will, old Kitty left me two Persian cats, one of her favorite dusters, a box of cookies and a gallon of milk.