Trixie sat on the couch with her feet propped up on the table in front of her. She shuffled through the stack of papers on her lap, comparing the numbers on the papers with the numbers that she had entered into her laptop computer. Satisfied that all was correct, she hit the "submit" button.

"There! All the bills are paid and the VISA card balance is now zero," she said as she gave the thumbs up gesture to her computer.

Trixie changed screens and checked the balance in her checking account. With a satisfied smile, she noted that she had a fair amount left over this month.

"Finally, getting ahead," she muttered.

In a burst of energy, Trixie decided to get a head start on the weekend chores by throwing in a load of laundry. She grabbed several pairs of jeans and tossed them into the washer. At the last minute, she hurriedly unzipped her sweatshirt and added it to the load. After starting the washer, Trixie went and settled back on the couch with her laptop, intent on perusing the Lucy Radcliffe website. She was engrossed in her reading when she became aware of an odd thumping noise. Looking up from her computer screen, she cocked her head and listened. It sounded like it was coming from the washer. Shrugging, she decided that the zippers of the blue jeans were making the racket. A few minutes later, she looked up again from the computer screen.

"No," she thought, "that is definitely not the sound of zippers. Hmmmm"

Her mind mentally checked off the items in the washer. She stopped when she got to the memory of throwing in her sweatshirt. Her eyes widened and she jumped up from the couch.

"No! No!" she yelled as she ran to the washer and opened it. She fished around in the bottom, grimacing as her hand hit the cold, sudsy water. She finally wrapped her fingers around the object that she feared she would find. Shoving the jeans aside, she brought up her dripping, wet cell phone. Trixie shook the water droplets off the phone and shut the washer. She turned and stormed back to the couch where her computer lay open. She slammed it shut and put it on the table next to the recently paid bills. She angrily slid the ruined cell phone into her back pocket, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

"Gleeps and double gleeps! This day went south in a hurry." She gritted her teeth as she envisioned the new charges to her VISA card.