Sanitizing The World

Papa Bear, Gabby, Mama Bear, and Bud, the Baby Bear

“I hate nature,” complained Gabby to herself. “There’s so much dirt.”

Mom looked back at her and said, “Hurry up, Gabby.”

Gabby and her parents were on a walk in the woods. It was the first time they’d been out of their city since they moved.

Gabby was a young girl living in a brand new house. It wasn’t big or fancy, just clean. It had never been lived in before.

Gabby loved “new” and “clean.” She always wore her gloves when she rode the school bus and carried around a bottle of hand cleaner to make sure there were no germs around her.

Gabby carried hand cleaner everywhere

But here in the woods, everything was old AND dirty.

While Mom and Dad walked ahead, Gabby stopped. She saw an old, dirty trail marker. Ewwww! She needed to wash her hands!

Close by, she spotted a small cottage. Maybe whoever lived there would let her use their bathroom.

Cottage in the woods

“I’ll catch up with you. I need to use the bathroom,” Gabby said to her parents.

Gabby approached the cabin. She noticed the front door was slightly open. She pulled a hand wipe from her backpack and used it to knock on the door.

“Is anyone there?” she asked.

The house was very quiet. Gabby guessed no one was home. She used the wipe to push the door open. The house looked very cozy, but there was dirt all over the floor.

Gabby standing in the middle of the living room

“This could be a problem,” Gabby thought. “Oh well. Whatever is dirty can always be cleaned.”

Gabby thought the house was abandoned, but then she spotted three bowls of cereal on the table. They were half-full; it almost looked like someone had rushed off without cleaning up after themselves.

Three bowls of oatmeal were left on the table

“I can’t wash my hands when everything is so dirty. I’d better clean up.”

Gabby started cleaning

Gabby pulled gloves from her backpack and set about cleaning up the kitchen. She washed the dishes and wiped off the kitchen counter and table.

An hour later, Gabby was tired. She’d cleaned up the entire kitchen. She put down a clean washcloth and sat on one of the chairs at the table.

SNAP!

The chair broke, dumping Gabby on the floor. Good thing she’d just cleaned it.

Gabby sat on the clean kitchen floor and cried

Gabby started crying. “This day has been too stressful. I need to lie down,” she said.

She stood up. There were stairs next to the kitchen leading to the bedrooms. She wondered if the bedrooms were clean.

She pushed open the door to the bedroom. There were three beds.

The first bed was enormous. It was piled high with comfy quilts. “Too high,” Gabby said. “Too much dust up there.”

The first bed

The next bed was of medium size, but when Gabby touched the quilt with her gloved hand, it felt like there were pine needles on it.

The second bed

“Forest germs!” she cried.

Gabby stumbled back and landed on the third bed. It was much smaller and was super comfy.

She didn’t even care that the bed was unmade or that there was dirt on it. She was so tired, she fell asleep immediately.

Gabby fell asleep

Gabby woke with a start. She felt someone staring at her. When she opened her eyes, she saw two bears staring at her.

Papa and Mama Bear were watching Gabby

A little bear burst into the room. “Mama! Papa! Someone broke my chair!”

He stopped short as he saw Gabby.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Gabby sat up straight. She was staring into the un-sanitized faces of three bears. She screamed, scrambled off the bed, grabbed her backpack, and gave her hands one last squirt of cleaner.

She didn’t wait to see if the bears were friendly; she flew out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door, never looking back. She didn’t even stop to put on her shoes.

Gabby ran out of the house

The bears stood there, shocked. They all sniffed the air.

“Well, at least she cleaned before she left,” said Mama Bear, as they all laughed.

© 2025 Laurie Leiker

NOTE: All images were created by the author using Midjourney on Discord. No AI was used in the writing of this story — it’s 100% human-written!

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