'Tender'

Like how my mother and I were taking apart all the floor mats that were affected by the rain getting in through a hole in the roof, section by section. Why were the workers so reckless, didn't they know that there was proper furniture in the house, ours, albeit unused? I grew angrier and angrier, not understanding how these things happened. We lifted the beds and pulled out the mats while underneath damp layers of newspaper tore. The smell was pungent. I had to hold the mats properly on the way out to avoid dirtying the house any further. Hosed them off under the shelter of the garage, and hung them against the kennel's fence to dry when I was done. My mother told me she cried on the day she had found out. Our mattresses were soaked, even puddles existed within our rooms. And the men, they still had the nerve to demand for more money as work was being done. I asked her how they could have gotten away with that. I asked her many things, but knew in the end that there was nothing else we could do, save for what she had wanted: the taking apart, the cleaning.