Weeks had turned into months. Don't think that Rob and Chris are perfect people who never argue. Whenever they did fight it made the appliances nervous, especially the first time when Airika declared, "See! Humans fighting over something stupid! It wouldn't surprise me if one of them left and never came back!" Then the little vacuum wheeled out of the kitchen with a pout. Of course, nobody left. And once in a while, Toaster and his friends would tease Airika that she was still with them, trying to convince her she was not going anywhere. But she refused to believe them.


Two Christmases had passed since Airika was brought into the household. Unbeknownst to her, the other appliances had asked Calculator to keep tally of her stories about her owners. So far he had counted 53 owners.

It was April 17th, and a tired Rob was putting away the last of his tax supplies. The appliances and Chris noticed he looked rather tired and unhappy. "Is everything okay, hon?" Chris asked.

Rob ran a hand through his hair, "I haven't had any patients lately. Money is getting tight."

Chris came behind him and wrapped her arms around him, "We'll get by." The two humans walked out of the kitchen.

The appliances looked at each other, concerned. Melody, who had been left on the counter, said, "My old mistress used to say that frequently! Everything's going to be alright, right?"

"I'm sure they will!" Toaster tried to sound confident. The only thing really keeping him from feeling it was the downtrodden look on Airika's face.


That night, Kirby shifted in his sleep and startled awake when he did not bump into the smaller vacuum. Rob and Chris always leaned Airika against him, and she would stay in position at night. But now where was she? A quick look around the kitchen told him she was not in the room.

"Is anyone awake," Kirby whispered softly. Blenda and Sheena blinked yawned. "Have you seen Airika?" the vacuum asked.

"Not since we fell asleep," Blenda whispered, becoming more awake. She and the coffee percolator gently jumped down from the counter.

The three appliances went through the living room and surgery, finding no trace of the handheld. They found her in the computer den, tapping at the keyboard with her plug. To find out what she was up to, Blenda suggested they stay by the door and listen.

"Did that sound like a good description?" Airika asked the computer.

"Sounds accurate, but I don't understand why you'd want to sell yourself online."

"The owners are having money troubles," the little vacuum sighed. "When they need extra cash they'll sell off the junk they never use or can live without...junk like a second vacuum cleaner. I'm just beatin' them to the punch."

"But how do you know? Maybe things will get better if we wait."

"It's happened lotsa times before, and waiting is the least productive thing we can do. Now you won't tell anyone I did this right? I don't wanna start a panic when they might stay put."