She did do the dishes – well, most of them. She'd done the glasses and plates, but the pots and pans had food encrusted around the edges so she left them to soak for a little while, and when she came back someone had finished them off. She almost cleaned the bathroom on Wednesday. She put rubber gloves on, but then she remembered she was supposed to hand in a Maths assignment on Thursday, and by the time she'd finished it was ten o'clock, and she was supposed to be in bed by half past nine. On Thursday night Shelby took the vacuum cleaner out of the hall cupboard. She'd just finished picking up the Lego from the floor, and then Erin rang. Shelby remembered that she had to buy her a birthday present, and she asked her mum if she could run down to the little strip of shops on the corner. Her mother wouldn't let her go alone at that time of night and so they went together. Shelby had thirty-five dollars, and she needed to keep twenty aside for her entry fee to the Matchstick Town Challenge.
