The Well of Gratitude

28^th August 2012

Dear Cassi,

       

Sticky heat marked my day as the hammering went on into the darkening hours. The contractor said that my pipes are finished and that this will all be over soon. I can shower, wash my hands, and launder my clothing again. When I can once again sleep I do not know.

       

Pickles found the workers to be more of an annoyance to him than they

were to me. Then Pickles feels that his world is a private thing, and I can see his point. However, I understand the world and the need for intrusion so it bothers me less.

       

At the end of this mess the workers found a good ending point for the day and made haste to their own homes. Pickles and I were meaning to take repose when the general contractor and his assistant arrived. This was an awkward moment as Pickles was already in the shower cleaning up for his time away from the house.

       

The general contractor wanted to look at what had been going on in the house, and I took him about then tried to shoe him off as politely as I could. He dug for more work for his crew and I shrugged it off. In the end I had to say that Pickles and I were about to be off and so the contractor and his assistant toddle away.

       

As they left they told Pickles that he was lucky to have a brother like me. He returned this with “say that when he writes the monster checks”. The well of gratitude has been so dry for so long that I have no recollection of the taste of its water.

Live for yourself, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal