The curious incident of the baby in the lounge

I had been worried about some strange stains that had appeared on the ceilings in several rooms of the flat, so I had e-mailed my landlady to ask her about them. She promptly visited and diagnosed the problem, we hadn't left the windows open often enough for the rooms to properly ventilate. Ana said that she would send over her sister with a cleaner the following say at half past five in the afternoon to fix the problem. I was very pleased with such a quick solution so the following day I went to class as usual then came home and caught up on some of the US Television series’ that I watch. 

However, at around 5 o clock in the afternoon things started to go a little bit awry. There was a ring from the intercom which I answered by just buzzing them in, I was expecting a visit from a friend anyway. A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, I opened it to see a young woman with a small child in a pushchair. I was quite bemused but the woman simply rolled the baby in over my toes and started chatting away to me in Spanish. I was quite bemused and didn't catch a word of it, as the woman’s accent was quite thick and she spoke quickly. The only word I heard was Ana, my landlady’s name, so I asked the woman to speak more slowly. Instead she left the pushchair in the middle of the lounge, unbuckled the child then headed to the kitchen to make the child a warm bottle using our microwave. By this point I was starting to get a little bit freaked out, this woman obviously knew her way around the flat, but I had no idea who she was, I would have assumed she was the cleaner, if she had cleaning equipment with her rather than a small child.

Once the bottle was warmed the woman sat the child back in the pushchair and gave it the bottle, before telling me that she was going shopping then walking out leaving the child in the middle of our lounge. I went to get my flatmate Geo who was in and for a few minutes we sat in the lounge locked in some kind of staring competition with this child who wouldn't take it's eyes off us. I was so confused! What was I meant to do? Look after the child? When was the woman coming back? Who was the woman? After a few minutes Geo got a call on Skype and so retreated to her room, away from the stares of the child. I just sat there a little dumbstruck, half past five came and went, then eventually the woman returned. She turned the television on to a children’s channel and sat and watched it with her child. I wanted to perhaps offer her a refreshment or something, perhaps ask why she was here, but she received a phone call so I didn't get the chance.

Moments later my landlady's sister arrived, and seemed very familiar with the woman and the small child, this was a great relief. My mind had started thinking of all sorts of strange reasons for why these people would show up in our flat and make themselves at home. It turned out that she was the cleaner after all, my landlady's sister gave her some equipment and showed her the work that needed doing and then left again. So for the next hour and a half I sat in the lounge with the child in it's pushchair, luckily the little girl fell asleep so I put my headphones in and continued to watch my American television shows. None of my friends believed what was happening, to be honest neither did I. Once the woman was done cleaning she returned to her child and sat and watched the television with her some more. After a long while waiting Ana's sister returned and the two spoke for a while before the woman said goodbye to us all and left with her child. I was more than a little bemused, but I guess that's how it goes, thank goodness the little girl was well behaved, although she did start crying towards the end. It was such a bizarre day!

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