Beloved Blanket

This morning Miriam got mad at me for some tiny insignificant thing which I can't remember, and threw some stuff at me, including her stinky blanket. I had been contemplating washing it, since I no longer wanted it anywhere near me, which is a problem since it goes almost everywhere with Miriam, but had not settled on a good plan. How to separate it from its sidekick? She even gives it a place at the table. It's me, Chuck, Miriam, and blanket at the table, quite often. We draw the line at putting it on the table, so Miriam gives blanket a chair, and gives it periodic kisses. So when she threw it at me, I grabbed it and walked into the laundry room and threw it in the washer, added a bunch of other white clothes, and started it.

After a little while, Miriam comes to me signing "blanket." At first I denied any knowledge of blanket's whereabouts, then I remembered she threw it at me, so I told her she threw it at me and now it is getting washed. She was alarmed and became upset and went to see what was going on in the laundry room. I told her she had to wait until it was done and then a few minutes in the dryer, and then she could have it. She waited impatiently, checking the status of the washer often, until it stopped making noise. She came to me excitedly and signed, "All done." But I went and looked and it said 10 minutes left. So we waited. Then she came again. "All done." I checked and it was one minute left. So she went away and when it was done I quickly threw it with the other clothes into the dryer. So a few more minutes went by, and she came to remind me again, and we went and opened the dryer. Miriam's blanket was dry and warm and I gave it to her and told her she should thank me for washing it, and she blew me a kiss and signed thank you. That's more like it.