The coffee table in the living room was cleared of its usual clutter in time for Easter guests and somehow still remains a blank slate. Carpets are vacuumed, and new floors gleam in the “dining room.” 

In other words, the first floor of the house is looking spiffier than usual. 

But for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And here, as soon as one floor of the house looks better, another looks worse. 

It’s a bit like Dorian Gray’s portrait in the attic, where the image of the man ages but the man himself does not. Or it could be two faces of the same person, a la Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: one industrious and law-abiding; the other … a monster. 

In my house, it’s Dr. First Floor and Mr. Basement.