Day of the Dishes

29^th January 2015

Dear Cassi,

     

I came home directly and filled the dishwasher with every one of my blender jars and cutting boards, and as much silver where as would fit and set the thing to run before taking pickle to the store. It so happened that Pickle wanted to go to so many stores that he and his best friend doubted he would get to them all.

     

As I was re-washing the silverware, bleaching the sink, and cleaning the silverware tray I figured we could take care of a few of Pickle’s shopping needs. It is often his custom to go to eat before shopping as this curbs the appetite for more at the grocery.

     

Pickle has been complaining about his spending, and so has opted to only go to the store once every four weeks. Somehow I think this is negated by going to the three stores but Pickle doesn’t see it that way. Vegetables only last as little as three days in the crisper with things like lettuce or as much as a month with carrots. How can you keep things with one trip in four weeks?

                                                 

In any case, we went to a store he liked and spent nearly a hundred dollars on vegetables, protein, and pastas. Went to another store and he filled the basket again buying enough to fill the trunk of my car and then some. If his experiment is a success it will surprise me but he spent a lot of money today.

Keep perspective, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Night of Bad Dreams

1st March 2015 

Dear Cassi,

Last night was a night of bad dreams, but in waking I found the sink a mess and the laundry in need of doing. Were the dreams so bad as my reality? I had to hold off on proper food and eat only something to keep my body going. Until nearly midnight I could make myself no proper meal because of the mess I had to address.

I had taken nothing into my gut for nineteen hours and so was feeling drained and weak. I guess you know this life, but I can only guess. I do not recall when I first started doing dishes, but I know it had hard to reach the counter top when I did. You must remember that back then my mother was too weak to wash and the rest of my family to lazy.

I stacked out the dishes and started addressing the jumble in the linen closet having to wash everything over again. I can’t imagine how Pickle finds it so hard to fold towels. Then the cabinets get rumbled after he washes dishes and the mess grows until I pull it all out and start over.

For more than twelve hours the washer or dryer ran with most of it being both at the same time. The dishwasher ran twice and the long run of cleaning only made a dent in the detritus.

In the end I finally when back to sleep and had more bad dreams, but not as bad as my waking nightmare. Now in the twilight of the day I sit before the computer logging this misfortune.

Live as you can, little sister,




Richard Leland Neal

Streamlining

24^th June 2013

Dear Cassi,

It was the odd happening of my weekend that I worked an extra day and so had one day off only to sleep through almost the full duration. It was not until Monday afternoon that I finally woke for the day and found myself useful. As it stood I had my work cut out for me.

       

Pickles had put some work into the dishes and so the sink was still disgusting. I know that he ran the dishwasher once this morning before I roused and I ran a second after I made us a chicken salad.  This made almost no dent in the dirt and grime of my home and so I labored on with laundry and dishes literally until the moment I grabbed my coffee box and left for work.

       

Here it becomes necessary to note that measured out my coffee, creamers, and sugar for the week. These all went into a set of glass jars that I keep in my old turkey pan. On a Monday, the turkey pan and my coffee box should be full, and so I should have no need for grinding coffee for the week.

       

This makes for one less thing I need to do every night and so should streamline my week. Every morning when I come home I should restock my coffee box for work and every night I should then have to do no more than pick it up before I leave.

       

This is again one of my futile acts of streamlining my life. Surprise will overwhelm me if I manage to do this again next week. I’ve come up with idea after idea for how to make my life faster and more efficient by never have I kept the practice and rarely has it been much of an improvement.

Never give up, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Don’t Fear the Mirror

6^th May 2013

Dear Cassi,

Over the weekend, sleep was like a fever calling me back to it as I would wake and move then return to slumber. There were piles of dishes and dirty clothes, but when today came and the hours of my work drew near I had things under control.

Before I left for work tonight I put my last load of dishes in the dishwasher and set the time delay. This machine gives me an automatic four hours before it starts to run. Then I set the washer with a load of pants with seven hours before it would start its washing and so I will come home to a washed load of dishes and clothes one to dry and one to put away.

It was at seven in the evening that I looked in the mirror and knew I would get no sleep today. The point of no return had long passed. The situation had yet to click in my head until I looked in that mirror and saw my three days of facial hair and the unruly bush atop my head.

I was a mess and I stunk. I know at some point over the weekend I showered but when? My diet had been healthy, but the long hours of work and long hours of sleep somehow left me more frazzled than refreshed.

Don’t fear the mirror, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Beast They Call Depression

26^th November 2012

Dear Cassi,

What is this beast they call depression that makes so many simple things a trial? Even as I sit here I grapple with this apparition fighting to keep my eyes open and my head up. It feels as if I carry bags of sand with me wherever I go.

        

Today again I exposed carpet in my bed room and the bottom of the sink in the kitchen. How many times before have I done this, and how many times will I again spend a day of my life to accomplish this small act of civility.

       

Pickles is content to live among the dirt and insects, but the drain on me has become so hard to labor under. I feel as if I stand against the world even when I know the world looks on in indifference.

       

I would like to think that this world of clutter and dirt is the product of

some false self, some daemon to expel from my flesh. Then I need ask myself, what are the daemons of the mind? Are they any more than our memories haunting and howling in the nether twixt our ears?       

       

Daemon is then just a name I have given a part of myself that stands against my well being. As the much in our arteries needs to be worn away and the fat of my gut to be worked off so does this daemon needs righting.

Keep your head clear, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Too Lazy to do Dishes

Before you ask I’m the youngest of the family.

22^nd September 2011

Dear Cassi,

I think this time I’ve given up for good. About one week ago I walked into the kitchen and could smell something overpoweringly horrible. The smell was new in only how strong it was, and I finally realized it was coming from the sink.

    

This again was a pitfall of expecting my brother to do the dishes. Well, I set about to do my brother’s chore and found that once again insects had infested the left sink basin. It was my brother’s practice to wash dishes only when needed and sometimes not even then, and once more he only washed the dishes he found on top leaving those that had sat the longest to putrefy. Even the left basin plug had now been covered with a multicolored putty that teamed with a life all of its own.    

                   

Clearing the sink was not enough to purge the stench, so I opted to plug it and add bleach. In this bog I placed the silverware cage from the dishwasher containing the sponges and bleached the stench out of them as they appeared new. On this I placed a glass jar which quickly filled with water under the tap and held the sponges submerged. To this the worst of the dishes were added until the sink was full. I let this run over into the right basin until both had filled. This mixture was given rumination for half an hour until I drained it and sat about to do the dishes.

    

I do believe I did two loads that night and have done the dishes every night since. You have no idea what a battle it has been to get my lazy brother to do even that, and now I have finally conceded.

    

Over the course of my lifetime the reliance on any other living person has always been ill fated. At least I’m looking out for myself.

Stay safe, Cassi,

Richard Leland Neal