The Vacuum Started at Three

It's a cheap one, the vacuum. The kind that gets stuck under the same chair leg every day and gives up.

I set it for 11am so it's done before I'm home. That's the only time in the app. I checked, because tonight it started at 3.

I heard it before I understood it. That soft knock-knock against the baseboard, the little motor winding up in the dark. I lay there doing the math on whether I'd dreamed setting a second time, and knowing I hadn't.

The app says next scheduled clean, 11:00 AM. One entry. It also says last run, 3:02 AM, today. Both true on the same screen.

I got up. It was in the hallway, nosing at the closet door, backing off, going in again. Same three inches over and over. I stood in the doorway watching a machine be confused about a door, and I didn't turn on the light, and I couldn't have told you why.

I picked it up. Held the button till it went quiet. The wheels kept turning a second in my hand, still trying to get somewhere.

It's on its dock now. I'm back in bed. The app still says 11:00 AM, one entry, like nothing happened.

I keep thinking about the closet. On 11am days it does the whole floor plan. Tonight it went straight down the hall and stopped at that one door.