Author's Note: Here's another Garfield one-shot I've got in mind. This particular one-shot is based on a series of week-long arcs featuring Jon trying to clean the house.
This story also takes some inspiration from the animated spring cleaning episode of Mr. Bean.
I don't own Garfield. Jim Davies and Paws Inc. does.
It was a warm spring morning in Muncie, Indiana. The birds were singing and the flowers were blooming. All of the warm weather brings in joy and fresh, optimist feelings and appearances.
With the notable exception of a certain single-storey house home to two guys, a dog and a cat.
The front yard of the house in question was overgrown with weeds, and the windows looked like it could use some serious wiping.
Inside, the place looked even more like a huge mess. There was dust everywhere in every corner, and some areas have cobwebs.
That morning, Garfield woke up after a good night's sleep and yawned and stretched and burped as he always did. A burp that pretty much woke up the rest of the household.
As he scratched himself, he got up and walked towards the nearby window in the living room, where he can hear a couple of birds twirping.
There was one problem: He can't see the birds. He could only see their shadows and as he shook the sleep out of himself, he needed to find a cloth to wipe the window before being able to see the birds clearly.
Seeing the amount of dust that has accumulated on the cloth, Garfield turned to Odie, who just got up and went to join him, and said, "You know, Odie, I won't say that Jon and Lyman are bad housekeepers, and I sure won't say that the house is dirty. However, we've always have to wipe our feet before we go outside every single time."
"Arf." Odie barked and nodded in agreement as they turned towards Garfield's bed and saw that the blanket is still in its default form whenever Garfield's sleeping.
"Looks like my blanket could use a laundry wash." Garfield remarked.
Then, the duo heard some squeaking coming from Lyman's room and Jon asking, "Lyman, do you hear squeaking?"
"Yeah, it's my shoes." Lyman can be heard replying. There was some silence and the duo assumed that Lyman was taking his shoes off. Perhaps he was planning to go for a morning jog as he and Jon always do.
However, the squeaking continued even after Lyman took off his shoes, at which point Jon remarked, "Looks like we've got to wash our socks."
"Oh, yuck!" Garfield exclaimed in disgust.
"Indeed, Jon." Lyman agreed. "And is it just me, or does our clothes smell weird?"
"I think today should be our laundry day." Jon replied as the housemates made their way to the kitchen.
As Garfield and Odie watched their owners enter the kitchen, they heard Jon saying, "I'll grab something to eat from the refrigerator, Lyman."
A horrifying realization came to Garfield's mind when he overheard the remark and he turned to Odie and said, "Uh oh, Odie! We've got to go to the rescue!"
Odie nodded in agreement before they sped off.
A short second later, Jon had opened the fridge and almost immediately, he and Lyman were greeted by the horrendous smell of rotten leftovers coming from the refrigerator.
At that instant, Garfield and Odie, both donning gas masks, arrived at the scene as the former slammed the refrigerator door shut.
"Time to clean out the refrigerator, Jon!" Garfield said as he and Odie saw the disgusted looks on their owners' faces.
"I think I've just lost my appetite." Lyman remarked, trying hard not to throw up after detecting the awful smell.
"What do you say we go to Irma's diner for breakfast, guys?" Jon suggested.
"Sure." Garfield nodded. "As long as Irma remembers your usual, Jon."
After a rather lousy breakfast, during which Irma revealed that the cook had lost his cell phone, which explains the ringing in Garfield's ears, the guys have returned to the house, during which Jon took note of the dismal look of the front yard.
"The yard looks like it can use some weed whacking." Jon remarked. "It's overgrown with weeds! With weeds, I can't do my annual dance to spring."
"Even without the weeds, you still won't be able to do the dance, Jon." Garfield added, referring to the fact that he and Odie had earlier shedded on Jon's daisy costume, as well as on Jon's other outfits in his closet full of ugly clothes, buried the bee costume deep, as well as their house being a total mess on the inside.
Inside the house, the guys were not sure where to start their spring cleaning.
"I can't believe it's time to do some spring cleaning already, Lyman." Jon remarked as they surveyed the living room before spotting Garfield's blanket on the bed in its set form.
Thinking that Garfield has returned to his bed for another nap, Jon walked over to the bed as he said, "Uh, Garfield? I'm sure you don't want to sleep through our whole spring-cleaning. You should consider rescheduling your morning nap for the day."
Hearing no response, Jon lifted the blanket, only to find the bed unoccupied.
"Garfield?" He asked.
"Jon, Garfield's right here." Lyman pointed out as Jon tapped the nearby table with Garfield's blanket and discovered how hard it has set.
"Yeah, it's time to wash my blanket, Jon." Garfield said.
"So anyways, where do you think we should start?" Lyman asked.
"First, let's get going with the laundry." Jon suggested. "Then, we'll clean out the refrigerator."
"Sure, except that we probably aren't going to have much to wear." Lyman pointed out. "All of our clothes are in need for some serious washing."
"Yeah." Jon sighed as he went to his room to change. A few minutes later, he was wearing a brand-new red t-shirt with the words "Sissy Boy" on it.
"I sure love Doc Boy's Christmas presents." Garfield smiled at Jon's expense.
Soon, much of the laundry was in the washing machine and now Jon and Lyman are preparing to get started in cleaning the refrigerator out.
"Let's see if we have everything to clean out the refrigerator, Lyman." Jon said.
"No problem." Lyman nodded as he consulted a list. "Rubber gloves..."
"Check." Jon replied as he looked at the rubber gloves he and Lyman were wearing.
"...Trash bags..." Lyman continued.
"Check." Jon nodded, his right hand holding a trash bag.
"...Scouring Pad..." Lyman added.
"Check." Jon said.
As they continued consulting Lyman's list, Garfield and Odie were armed with their own refrigerator-cleaning equipment.
"Goggles..." Garfield said as he and Odie both donned a pair of goggles.
"Arf." Odie nodded in confirmation.
"...Flame thrower, gas masks..." Garfield continued as he armed himself with a flame thrower.
"Arf." Odie nodded as they both donned gas masks.
"...Whip..." Garfield continued.
"Arf." Odie gripped the whip in his hand.
After some rather intense cleaning out the refrigerator, they managed to throw away a lot of the old, rotten leftovers.
"At least the refrigerator is all clean." Jon remarked. Part of him was covered in dark-coloured soot (From the flames of Garfield's flame-thrower), and there were a few scratches on him and Lyman.
"Yeah." Garfield nodded. "Those really-old leftovers sure are mean."
"Anyways, I think we can get the laundry into the dryer, Jon." Lyman said. "I don't hear the washing machine working anymore."
"And then, it's off to load another round of dirty laundries." Jon nodded as they walked over to the washing machine.
As the two men went to get the laundry, Garfield turned to Odie and said, "While they're getting to the laundry, Odie, let's find the vacuum cleaner."
They soon found the vacuum cleaner (More of a dust-collector), and it appeared that it wasn't even used for a long while.
"When was the last time Jon used the vacuum cleaner?" Garfield wondered. "And to think that he was trying hard to get rid of my cat hair and your dog hair, Odie."
"Arf." Odie nodded in reply, nodding at the carpet being covered with thick layers of dust with plenty of cat and dog hair.
Soon, Jon and Lyman have finished loading the first round of laundry in the dryer and the second round in the washing machine. As they walked towards the pets, Jon randomly blew at the table, causing the dining room to be instantly fogged up with dust.
"Oh, (Cough, cough) I think it's time to dust again, (Cough, cough, cough) Lyman." Jon coughed before noticing the cat hair and added. "Oh, yuck! Cat hair!"
"No (Cough) kidding, Jon." Lyman agreed. "Where did you put that vacuum cleaner?"
At that moment, Odie barked at them as if to signal them that he and Garfield had found it.
"Oh, there it is." Jon said as he and Lyman walked over to the pets.
Soon, Jon was vacuuming the floor while Lyman went to get the mop and bucket for the kitchen floor.
"Check out the carpet, Garfield." Jon said to Garfield as he watched him vacuuming the carpet.
"Fresh vacuum tracks, I suppose." Garfield remarked to himself.
In that same time, Odie was watching Lyman finishing mopping the kitchen floor.
"Yhew!" Lyman wiped his forehead. "The kitchen floor's all mopped, boy!"
"Arf!" Odie nodded as Lyman looked at the floor and noticed something.
"Did you know the linoleum had a pattern?" He asked his dog.
"Ar-ro-row." Odie arfed and shrugged as if he was saying, "I don't know."
It was then that they heard what sounded like a mild explosion coming from the living room.
"What was that?" Lyman asked as they rushed to find Jon.
"The vacuum cleaner has worn out, guys." Jon sighed as Lyman and Odie joined him and Garfield. "With all of this cat hair and dog hair!"
"Well, that machine was a dinosaur anyways, Jon." Lyman said as Garfield raised his arms in victory. "We should go buy another one."
As the two men were speaking, Garfield and Odie went to grab some other cleaning supplies.
"Now let's clean the windows, Odie." Garfield suggested.
"Arf." Odie nodded in agreement as he followed Garfield.
A short while later, Jon and Lyman were preparing to head for the supermarket when Jon noticed the window looking crystal clear.
"Hey!" He said before marching over to the window. "Who left the window-"
Before he finished, he find himself slammed against the crystal-clear glass as he added, "-Nyopen?"
"You never know when it's beautiful outside, Jon." Garfield said as he and Odie came, both armed with cloths and detergent spray.
After wiping all the windows, Jon and Lyman were on their way out to the garage when Jon saw a neighbour using a leaf-blower.
"Say, Lyman." Jon said when he spotted the neighbour. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"What is it, Jon?" Lyman asked.
"We don't need to buy a new vacuum cleaner." Jon said. "There's a reason why I've still got that brand-new leaf blower in the garage."
Lyman's eyes brightened when he understood what Jon was thinking about.
A short while later, Garfield and Odie heard the leaf blower turned on.
"Dusting isn't that hard!" Jon remarked.
"Not with a leaf blower, it isn't." Garfield remarked to Odie, who nodded.
"Hey!" Jon said after a while. "I found the couch!"
"It must be buried under layers of dust, Jon." Lyman remarked.
"Indeed it is." Jon agreed, not paying attention to the leaf blower as he speak.
Just then, a loud "THOOP!" can be heard throughout the house and the leaf blower stopped working.
"The leaf blower sucks, too!" Jon's muffled voice said, the top half of his body sucked into the leaf blower.
"And just as things were getting easy." Lyman remarked.
After setting Jon free, the men finally finished their spring cleaning.
"Whew." Jon wiped a forehead, some rips evident on his shirt. "Who knew that cleaning the house was such a hassle?"
"Indeed, Jon." Lyman agreed before gesturing towards the front yard and added. "But we still have to do some weed whacking."
"Oh yes, that." Jon sighed.
A short while later, both Jon and Lyman were completely covered in bandages.
"Oh, well..." Lyman sighed.
"So much for weed whacking." Jon finished.
Garfield and Odie only snorted in reply as they looked out towards the window.
"You guys missed a spot over there." Garfield said, point towards the spot in question, near where a damaged wasp nest has landed.
Eventually, the house and front yard both looked cheerful and spring.
"About time we joined the spring spirit, guys." Lyman remarked as they surveyed the front lawn.
"And that's something that call's for celebration." Jon added. "In the form of our annual spring dance!"
As Jon walked over to find his costumes for the spring dance, Garfield turned to Odie.
"Here we go again, Odie." Garfield sighed as the dog nodded in agreement. "Well, at least we planned ahead."
"Arf." Odie barked just as Jon returned with a frown.
"I hate shedding season." He said, holding his daisy costume covered in cat and dog fur.
"Told you doing a spring dance was a bad idea, Jon." Garfield said. "You didn't seem to have learned your lesson after those hornets last spring."
It was then that someone's stomach started growling.
"I'm gonna grab something to eat, Jon." Lyman said. "Wanna join?"
Jon looked down at his costume that is still covered in fur, then at Garfield and Odie, who have already joined Lyman at the door, then sighed.
"Fine." Jon said. "I was getting hungry myself."
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