House of Trash
Ding-dong! Ding-dong! The lunch bell at the Polymer Elementary school rings loudly. The lunch period is over. Students dash off the soccer and baseball fields, playground, and lunch area to their classrooms. The students return to their seats; the noisy chatter and laughter on the playground and playing fields quell to a whisper of food wrappers, chip bags, and aluminum cans blowing in the wind.
Empty plastic water bottles and aluminum cans roll on the asphalt beneath long rectangular lunch tables toward the playground and basketball courts. Plastic baggies and paper napkins sail through the air and drift to the ground. They become tangled and lodged between the branches and leaves of bushes and trees. Banana peels, apple cores, bits of food, and half-eaten sandwiches remain in the lunch area. Multicolor plastic and paper waste products litter the schoolyard.
Ring! Ring! “Hello, Earth Kids,” says Sandy Soil answering the phone. She motions to Rainey Water and Wendy Air to grab the tablet.
“We have a crisis at the Polymer Elementary school,” says Ethyl Styrene, the school principal. “We need the Earth Kids to help us solve this problem.”
While Rainey and Wendy move closer to listen to the conversation, Sandy says, “We are available to assist.” Holding the tablet, she says, “Please describe what is happening.”
“The students continue to throw their trash from lunch onto the ground,” replies Principal Styrene, now glancing out her window facing the playground. “They are littering the schoolyard.”
Sandy takes a few notes and says, “We have a solution to teach students not to litter. All we need is a big yellow school bus and a driver.”
Shaking her head, the principal asks, “How will a yellow school bus and a driver stop the students from littering?”
“We can assure you,” says Sandy smiling at her pals, “this remedy will change attitudes about polluting the environment with trash.”
“Can you be here next week?” she asks. “I will arrange for buses and drivers.”
Sandy hangs up the phone and turns to her pals. “I suggest we get the virtual reality system with the headsets”
“No,” says Rainey shaking his head. “Since they have real buses and drivers, let’s take them on a real tour.”
“The virtual tour is safer,” says Sandy shifting her eyes upward. She tightens her lips in silence.
“What are you thinking about?” asks Wendy. “We will make sure no student is injured”
Sandy nods in agreement.
A week passes by and the Earth Kids travel to Polymer Elementary School. Principal Styrene greets them. They follow her to the auditorium where sixth graders wait. The Earth Kids introduce themselves, talk about trash, and the planned field trip.
“Good afternoon,” says Sandy waving to the students. “We are the Earth Kids.” Pointing to herself she says, “I am Sandy Soil.”
Rainey grabs the microphone and introduces himself and Wendy. Shaking hands and greeting students, moisture from Rainey’s head sprays students in the front row. He returns the microphone to Sandy.
Laughing, Sandy says, “I see some of you wiping water off your glasses. When Rainey gets excited, he sprays water everywhere.” She turns to Principal Styrene who gestures to her to continue. “People generate trash and household hazardous waste. Trash harms the environment.”
“It kills many people, fish, wildlife, and other living organisms,” says Rainey.
Wendy glides above and says, “The planet is our home and the home for all living creatures. Your school principal knows how important it is to keep the schoolyard litter-free.”
Wendy pauses after noticing gum wrappers on the floor. She picks them up and places them into the nearby trash container. She glides back to the stage and says, “We were invited to explain the importance of preventing trash and garbage from spilling onto the ground.”
Sandy takes a trash container with plastic containers, water bottles, and wrappers from Principal Styrene. She peers inside and pulls out a plastic water bottle. She holds it above her head for the students to see. Pointing to the trash container, Sandy says, “Trash and waste products contain dyes and chemicals that are deadly and harmful. These toxic substances eventually pollute the water we drink and the air we breathe.”
Rainey, leaning forward and holding the microphone says, “When it rains, the runoff carries the toxic contaminants in waste to lakes, rivers, and the ocean.”
Wendy glides through the auditorium, creating a gust of air. This causes a stack of papers to drift into the air and scatter throughout the room. She twirls her tail sending, sheets of paper to the front of the stage. The sheets flow through an airstream she forms and land in a neat pile next to the principal.
“Wow! That’s an amazing trick!” shouts a student.
Turning bright pink, Wendy says, “Thank you. Did you know pollutants in the soil get picked up by the wind and pollute the air?”
“Pollutants in the soil seep down through the ground surface and eventually contaminate the groundwater making it unsafe to use or drink,” says Rainey.
“We will be taking you on a special field trip to learn more about trash,” says Sandy as she turns to face the principal.
Three big yellow school buses, with electric motors, wait in the parking lot. The students follow Principal Styrene and board the buses. Sandy and the principal board the first bus. Rainey boards the second bus and Wendy boards the third one. The bus drivers have directions to the place the sixth graders will visit.
The dark green vinyl seats on the bus are hard and rough. The seats vibrate from tires bouncing on the newly patched asphalt road. As the buses swerve through city streets, students hear the whoosh of passing cars, the screech of slamming brakes, beeps of honking horns, and squeals of blaring sirens. The irritating scent of exhaust from cars on the road, sting noses and cause some students to sneeze. The buses move swiftly until they enter a residential neighborhood. Suddenly, they come to a screeching halt.
They are parked in front of a beautiful three-story house painted white. The front yard has a large well-manicured lawn and two tall maple trees. Pink and red roses frame the house. A long and narrow paved walkway bisects the front lawn leading to the front door. On the third floor is a wrought-iron balcony that looks out into the street. Dark tinted windows on the first and second floors face the front of the house.
“Everyone out,” says Sandy holding a small leather knapsack. “This is our first destination.”
The students step off the bus and stand in the cool breeze. They follow Sandy to the front door. Rainey and Wendy follow behind the students. The fragrance of rose blossoms intensifies as they approach the porch. Sandy removes a key from the leather knapsack and slowly opens the door. People enter a poorly lit house with a combination of strange odors. There are gooey substances on the sticky floor.
Crunch! A loud crackly noise from crushing an empty plastic water bottle startles the students as Sandy flips on the light switch.
“Welcome to the house of trash,” she says picking up a water bottle off the floor. “I want everyone to stay close. Stay on the rubber floor mat and hold onto the handrails as we tour the home.”
The large entryway has three closed doors leading into various parts of the house. Sandy opens the middle door, and everyone follows. Inside the large living room are hundreds of plastic garbage bags and cardboard boxes overflowing with trash. Garbage bags and cardboard boxes, against the walls reach the ceiling.
Students look around the room wide-eyed with mouths open. Heads turn side to side as they slowly proceed through the room. Some students stop and peer into open boxes and containers overflowing with trash. Wendy and Rainey lead them on, ensuring no student falls behind.
There is no furniture except a couch. Only the backside of the stained couch is visible. The front of the couch is buried beneath old magazines, junk mail advertisements, and empty cereal boxes. Sandy watches students rummage through the magazines piled on the couch. Suspended from the ceiling are bags of newspaper hovering above. Wendy stops the students who jump up and try to touch the bags of newspapers suspended from the ceiling.
On the opposite side of the couch are boxes of empty glass bottles and sticky jars. Remnants of pasty spaghetti sauce, jelly, peanut butter, and other foods remain inside the thousands of jars.
“Please stop and listen carefully,” shouts Sandy. “I realize many of you want to touch and feel the trash in this house. However, we will enter rooms with safety hazards. For your safety, please do not touch anything and stay together.”
“What will happen if someone accidentally touches a piece of trash?” asks a tall student with his arms stretched high above his head. “Those trash bags suspended from the ceiling are cool.”
“Regardless of how tempting the trash seems, we have powers to stop you quickly,” says Sandy looking at the student. “Let’s not have any incidents; please don’t touch anything.”
Principal Styrene steps forward raising both hands to get her student’s attention. “I expect everyone to be on their best behavior and follow the rules. It’s for everyone’s safety.”
Everyone is silent as the principal steps aside. She gestures to Sandy to continue the tour. Sandy notices Wendy flying above waving her arms with something to say.
“If anyone feels nauseous or lightheaded, please raise your hand and I will help you,” says Wendy gliding above everyone. “I will be watching everyone from above.”
Rainey opens the glass double doors to the dining room. Students gasp from pungent and ghastly odors from scraps of rotten foods, rancid meats, and spoiled milk and cheese. The stench engulfs the room. With hands covering noses, they walk past the dirty frozen food containers, grubby oily pizza boxes, and empty milk cartons covering the dining room table. Dozens of bulging garbage bags rest on chairs positioned against the wall. Between the dining room table and chairs are more boxes of trash.
Oodles of empty cookie and cracker boxes, chip bags, candy wrappers, and other items cover the floor. In one corner of the room, bags of empty soda cans reach the ceiling. Trash is everywhere, making it impossible to move. To clear the walkway from the dining room to the kitchen, the Earth Kids move boxes of trash and sweep off rotting banana peels, soda cans, yogurt containers, and other items laying on the rubber mat.
Scattered throughout the kitchen are empty food wrappers, containers, and cans. Unrecognizable food scraps, decaying orange, and banana peels, rotting tomatoes, and moldy bread conceal the countertops. A pot filled with crusty rubbery macaroni and cheese rests on the stovetop. Inside the sink are empty bottles of olive oil, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and pancake syrup.
Crumpled napkins and paper towels, broken eggshells, smashed cereal boxes, and crushed soda cans cover the floor. Sandy pushes the trash aside and clears the area around the mats for the students to walk on. Everyone in the kitchen cautiously steps over the squished foods. The soiled floor mats are slippery and sticky. The students must walk slowly to avoid sliding across the slippery surface or tripping from pulling their shoes off the gummy tacky mat. It is impossible to prevent food products from sticking to the bottoms of shoes.
The stomach-turning odor detected in the dining room is one hundred times worse in the center of the kitchen. Inside a large waste container near the refrigerator, lies a stinky putrid brew of decaying and fermenting foods. The smell is a combination of onions, garlic, old baloney, tuna fish, and burnt microwave popcorn, mixed with old sweaty socks.
The stench is so foul it can cause one’s lip to curl and eyes to tear. Everyone holds their breath as they quickly exit the kitchen. Wendy and Rainey catch students who feel sick or are about to collapse onto the floor from the horrible odor. Students dash out of the room as quickly as possible.
“We are halfway through our tour,” Sandy says motioning to the students as they leave the kitchen and proceed into the hallway. “Most people find the odor from the kitchen to be unpleasant.”
“‘Unpleasant’ is an understatement,” whispers Principal Styrene to a teacher.
A student hears the principal and waits for the two adults to pass by. Turning to face her friends, she shouts, “That smell was vile and disgusting. It made my stomach turn inside out.”
“Yeah, I agree,” says her friend, who slowly drops to the floor and pretends to faint.
Rainey takes her hand and helps her off the floor. The girl wipes smashed peas off her pants; She tugs on the adhesive food label stuck to her shoe. It flies off her foot and glides in the air. Rainey catches it, removes the label, and returns the shoe to the student.
They walk down a dimly lit hallway. Droplets of liquid fall from the ceiling and hit students on the head. Some feel blasts of warm air on their face. Everyone hears a high-pitched grinding noise, but no one asks about it. The doors to all the rooms off the hallway are closed.
After passing three doors, Sandy cautiously opens the fourth door. It leads into a large brightly lit bathroom with two sinks, a shower, bathtub, and toilet. The room reeks of ammonia, mixed with vinegar, antiseptic, and rubbing alcohol.
Students, holding their breath, quickly glance into the room. LED lights shine above the large mirror hanging on the wall and bathroom counter. Makeup and nail polish stain the counter. The sinks are full of empty bottles of nail polish remover and mouthwash. A container overflowing with empty tubes of toothpaste, cans of shaving cream, used toothbrushes, razors, and broken combs sit on the counter. The floor is covered in trash. Flattened toilet paper rolls and facial tissue boxes lay above wadded up snotty tissues, clumps of matted human hair, and dust balls. Dental floss, twisted Q-tips, soggy cotton balls, and discolored band-aids are sprinkled throughout the floor.
The shower is bulging with empty plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioners, and bathroom and window cleaners. Its glass doors are kept closed with a rope tying the handles together.
Adjacent to the shower is an oversize tub, filled with a toxic soapy smelly greenish-blue liquid. A white scum floats on top. The liquid is a mixture of cleaners and detergents, mouthwash, shampoos, and other household products. The toilet holds no water, only trash.
Sandy directs everyone from the bathroom to a staircase down the hall. Two students remember seeing a slimy liquid oozing from the third door. They also detected another strange odor coming from that room.
The two students decide to check out what is inside the third room, while everyone proceeds to the second floor. Cautiously opening the door, they peer inside. Long dark green strings, resembling cooked spaghetti noodles hang like a curtain near the entryway. To reveal what is behind the curtain of moist green spaghetti strands, the shorter student pushes it aside. Rotting grass clippings from the yard fill the room. A green thick, sour musky smelly liquid of decomposed grass leaks from plastic bags. The liquid drains and collects into shallow drip pans on the floor. The nauseating stench prompts the taller student to close the door. They leave the area before falling ill and run up the stairs to join the group.
Sandy guides the group to a large bedroom. The Earth Kids wait in the hallway while students huddle together in the middle of the room. Heaps of old clothes cover the bed. Red plastic five-gallon buckets overflow with corroded batteries and used light bulbs. Rows of boxes, stacked to the ceiling, hold empty aerosol cans of paint, hair spray, and oven cleaner. In the corner of the room are piles of action figures, dolls, Xboxes, Legos, and other games. The students, excited by the items, push, and shove to touch the toys. Wendy stops them from above with small, targeted bursts of air.
The room has a large walk-in closet. A sixth-grade teacher opens its door. Dozens of old television sets, computer towers, and monitors tumble out and crash down with a loud boom. The teacher, startled by the incident, stumbles backward into the stack of boxes. This causes the stack of aerosol cans to topple over. A mound of aerosol cans buries the teacher. Students panic and rush out of the room. The Earth Kids enter and rescue the teacher.
The staircase on the second floor appears to have vanished. A heap of trash sits near the stairs. The trash shoot on the ceiling above the staircase is open with its cover missing. The students look for an alternate way downstairs. They try opening doors to other rooms, but they are locked. A female student turns the doorknob to a bedroom located across the hallway. It turns and appears to be unlocked. She opens the door and screams. Empty laundry detergent bottles crash down into the hallway. A taller student standing behind her quickly slams the door to prevent any more bottles from spilling out.
“We are trapped in this house filled with trash,” shouts a student wearing a gray sweater. “How can a staircase vanish?”
“I’m not sure,” says another student. “I agree, we are trapped. I can’t stay in a house filled with trash. We got to find a way out of here.”
The student in the gray sweater nods and says, “The smell from all the garbage is disgusting.” He begins pacing in the dark hallway and occasionally shifts his eyes to the area where the staircase should be. “We need to get downstairs.”
“What’s wrong with you guys?” asks the tall student wearing a checkered blouse. “The Earth Kids will get us out of here.”
“I don’t want to spend the night waiting while they try to get us out of this house.”
Sandy hears the commotion in the hallway. She runs to the hall and says, “Please don’t panic. I believe the jolt from the recent crash caused the trash shoot to open, creating an avalanche of garbage that buried the stairs.”
She leads them into a small room with a firefighter’s pole. Beneath the fire pole is a manhole cover that opens to the room below. Sandy removes the manhole cover and instructs everyone to slide down the pole to the first floor and wait in the hallway. The fire pole leads to the room with the green spaghetti strands and rotting lawn clippings.
Students slide down the pole. Their hair and clothes are covered in grass clippings, slimy green strands, and wet smelly liquid. Some try to wipe the grass and stringy material off their face, hands, and clothes.
As they wait for the principal and Earth Kids in the hallway someone asks, “What is this green stuff?”
“It’s disgusting.”
“We need towels to wipe this slime off our face and hands.”
The Earth Kids forcefully push the trash to one side and squeeze down the stairs to the first floor. The principal follows. Sandy locks the door after everyone leaves the house. When they reach the parked buses, the principal and teachers pass out hand sanitizer and towels for the students to clean their hands and wipe the green material off their bodies.
Before the students board the buses, Sandy says, “I can guess everyone is glad to leave that house filled with garbage. The family living there had no place to dispose of the trash they generated at home. They accumulated their trash on the first and second floors of the house and lived on the third floor.”
“Maybe you should explain why,” says Wendy.
“All of the waste disposal facilities closed, and no one wanted to build a new landfill in their neighborhood. The people were told they were now responsible for managing their trash. The city encouraged everyone to reduce waste. People were shown how to reduce and eliminate tons of garbage.” Sandy pauses and then stares across the lawn to the large white house. Raising her eyebrows, she says, “This family refused to reduce their waste. Instead, they chose to build a third floor to live in. This is the only three-story house on the block.”
Principal Styrene instructs the students to board the bus. Once the students are in their seats, the bus motor purrs as it moves away from the house. The two other busses follow. The driver on the first bus makes a sharp turn and merges onto a highway. Suddenly, a student sitting in the back of the bus shouts, “Irvin is missing.”
“Who?” asks the principal. She turns to face the student.
“You know, Irvin”
“He’s the goalie on our soccer team,” says another student. “Irvin Walker Lee.”
Sandy moves closer to the bus driver and shouts, “Stop the bus. We need to turn around and look for Irvin.”
