KATHY’S HOME

When a person is a good cook, he or she is usually a clean person as well. However, in Kathy’s case, the opposite turned out to be true. The first time Kathy and I got to know one another was at the VA Medical Center. The afternoon staff at the VA Medical Center decided to have a Memorial Day potluck for those working on that day. The employees working on the holiday drew sticks to decide what each would bring to the potluck. Kathy would bring beef stew, Tucker—corn muffins, Sandy—turnip greens, Maggie—potato salad, Amy—barbecue rib tips, Wendy—soft drinks, plates, and the table coverings, and I would bring a lemon cheesecake.
When Memorial Day came, one of the staff members, Maggie, decorated the tables in the nurses’ lounge. On one of the tables, Maggie laid out the plastic plates, utensils, napkins, and cups together. Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, Sprint, Faygo, and Mountain Dew cans chilled in a large size styrofoam cooler filled with ice on the floor. Maggie turned down the slow cooker from hot to warm and added Kathy’s beef stew to the second table along with all the other food. Two square tables surrounded by round tables were all covered with white table cloths. Maggie had the tables decorated beautifully. The plates and napkins were solid blue and trimmed with flowers, with the forks and spoons matching.
As some of us put our patients to bed, others went to the nurses’ lounge to enjoy the food we’d all brought. When it was time for me to have a break, I went to the lounge to enjoy the feast as well. I saw Kathy Keller standing in line with her plate in her hand waiting to serve herself. She was very talkative and happy, bragging to us all about how good her beef stew was and urging everyone to try it. I took a plate and the serving spoon, dipped the spoon in the stew and put it on my plate. I also got some ribs and salad.
Kathy and I sat down to eat. First, I tasted her beef stew. It reminded me of my grandmother’s homemade soup. The gravy had a dark brown color to it and was thick. The stew meat and potatoes were cut up in thick squares. There were carrots, and sweet peas added with the stew. There were many people in line loading their plates with Kathy’s beef stew. Like me, it seemed everyone enjoyed her dish more than the ribs or any of the other food served.
When the potluck was over and the staff was cleaning up, the pot of beef stew was empty. Kathy rinsed out her pot so she could take it home. Afterwards, Kathy asked me if I could join her for dinner at her house Tuesday, next week, at 3:00 p.m.. I accepted her invitation because Tuesday was my day off and I was free to do anything I wanted. Kathy wrote down her address and gave it to me. When the next Monday came around, and work was over, I went home, took a shower and watched television for the night, looking forward to my day off and some much needed quiet time.
Tuesday morning came around, and forgetting I had dinner plans, I decided to go grocery shopping so I could cook dinner for the evening. I came back to my home at 2:30, put away my groceries and took out what I was going to cook. After I prepared dinner, I started to eat when the phone rang. It was Kathy. She sounded disappointed and wanted to know what happened to our little get together. I told her I had forgotten her invitation and would be running late. I would be at her house at 5:00 p.m..
Deep within myself, I did not want to leave after getting comfortable at home, but to avoid hurting her feelings, I wrapped up my supper, and headed out to the car.
Driving on the road for a length of time, I finally made it to her street. I saw houses that were neatly kept up. The lawns were cut low, the trees were trimmed and the houses grew farther and farther away from each other. There was one house which looked very different from the others. There were junk cars surrounding it and there was no grass on the ground. It looked more like a place where wrecked cars were kept. I continued to drive until I noticed I was driving back to the country. Clearly, I had missed Kathy’s home.
I turned around and drove back on that same street. I started looking again for Kathy’s address. It was then I realized what I thought was a junk yard was Kathy’s home, so I parked the car, stepped outside and proceeded toward the front door. Making my way was difficult because there was no walkway. The yard was littered with car parts and tires. Before I could knock on the door, Kathy opened it. I was hit first by the smell. It was as if a person had been dead in there for weeks. The odor made me so sick it seemed like someone has closed the top on a jar with me in it, making it impossible for me to get out. I considered turning around, heading towards my car and driving back home to eat my own dinner, but I didn’t.
Kathy invited me into her house. She introduced me to her daughter who had Down syndrome. Looking in the living room, there were ten little Chihuahua dogs that ran toward me, barking and ready to bite. Over by the fire place, there was some kind of animal Kathy kept in a cage. The animal looked like a snake, but it had a long head, was 12 feet long, and had alligator legs and feet. There was also a live pig in her house. Kathy and her family treated the pig like a pet. There were also plenty of cats running all around her house. Animal hair layered the floor and furniture.
Entering the dining room, the dinette table looked as if it had not been dusted for centuries. I couldn’t imagine living this way. Thankfully, Kathy did not have time to walk me through the rest of her house because she had to prepare dinner. As we walked in the kitchen, the kitchen looked very dingy and nasty. The kitchen looked as if no one had ever mopped or waxed the floor. There were food crumbs, flour, and corn meal that had been left on the table since I don’t know when.
Kathy took out chicken and flour. She took out the pan to fry the chicken. She put the chicken on the dirty table and sprinkled salt and pepper over the chicken. She then put the pan on the stove with some oil inside so she could fry the chicken. I suddenly asked Kathy if I could use her restroom and could she give me directions. Once I got to the bathroom, I changed my mind about using her toilet. The restroom needed to be reconstructed. The faucets were misplaced from the sink. Rust had built up on the bottom of the tub as if an animal had been housed there. I walked back to the kitchen and asked Kathy if she had another bathroom for me to use. She said that was her only bathroom. I wondered how these people managed to get around without taking a bath, washing their hands and wondered again how this family dealt with living this way.
While watching Kathy cook dinner, I noticed all her cats were up on the kitchen table smelling and stepping their paws in her flour bowl. While this was happening, I asked Kathy if she could bring me a plate to the job the next day because I had some business I had to attend to. I left the house and drove back home to my apartment and ate my own dinner.
Fourth of July came and the staff at the VA had another potluck. That time, Kathy brought an upside down pineapple cake. I watched all the staff helping themselves to her dessert, some of them even took seconds. I looked down at my own plate and felt both happy and relieved eating my own homemade pecan pie.