An Angel That Didn’t Make Her Bed

High in the sky, on a big, fluffy cloud, stood a city.

In one of its blue houses lived the Himmel family: Mom, Dad, and their daughter, Anny.

Every morning before school, Mom would wake Anny. They would eat breakfast together, Anny would brush her teeth, and Mom would brush Anny’s wings. Then Anny would fly to school with the neighbour’s children.

After school, she would pack her bag, put it on her back, and fly home.

Then she would eat lunch with her mom, and they would do the dishes together. After that, she would do her homework.

She also had a few chores.

She had to wipe the windows every day because clouds would stick to them. She would wash the dishes, take out the trash, and stretch her wings.

Then one evening, when Dad came home and they were having dinner together, she said,

“Why do we have to clean the windows every day? Why do we have to wash the dishes every day? Why do I have to stretch my wings every single day? Wouldn’t that time be better spent doing something more important, like homework, talking to friends, or spending time with them?”

Dad thought about it for a moment.

“You know what? Maybe you’re right. Why don’t we try not doing the chores at all?”

She was surprised. She hadn’t expected her dad to agree so easily.

So the next day, starting first thing in the morning, her routine changed.

She woke up and didn’t make her bed. She didn’t brush her teeth.

After breakfast, instead of washing the dishes, they used disposable paper plates. When Anny finished eating, she simply threw her plate straight off the cloud.

She didn’t stretch her wings either. Then she flew to school with her friends as usually.

She could wake up a whole twenty minutes later. Just think how much more sleep she could get because of that!

Every morning, she was so proud of herself.

She was saving so much time and being so efficient.

And so they lived like that for six months.

For the first few weeks, the family enjoyed having more time for their hobbies, and Anny was very proud that the whole thing had been her idea.

But as time passed, things became worse and worse.

Anny realised that something was wrong. One morning when she woke up in darkness because the dirt on the windows was blocking the light coming from outside.

Then she had to walk around piles of dirt just to get to the kitchen. The kitchen didn’t smell very nice either.

She didn’t brush her teeth after breakfast. She simply put on her backpack, said hello to the neighbours, and was about to fly to school.

But her wings were stiff, and her feathers had clumped together.

She tried to flap them as fast as she could, but it didn’t help. She managed to fly only a few metres into the air. But she painfully fell on her back.

She ran back home crying.

“I can’t live like this! I’ll make my bed, stretch my wings, do the dishes, and brush my teeth. It is so much more pleasant to live when things are taken care of.”

After that day, Anny began to enjoy her chores.

She even said to her friends:

“Twenty minutes of chores, each day you try, Will strengthen your wings and help you fly high.”