Dish Army

12^th October 2014

Dear Cassi,

As it always does it started with a dirty sink. That’s how I let my few days off slip by like they never were. Saturday morning when I came home the sink was full of dishes, and they spilled out onto the counter and across the room.

       

I hadn’t the strength to tackle them coming from an eight hour shift of work, having suffered a write-up, and finally capping my day with two hours of cardio at the gym. With this as my backdrop I slept as well as any who sleep during the day and found myself waking often.

       

It was possible at the six or seventh of these wakings that I emptied my bladder and found Pickle awake. It was just past one in the morning and he was in his night garb but wondered if I would cook and so I took that time to rise. I made quinoa and sausages red sauce sandwiches then set onto the task of the dishes. 

       

I cleared the counter and empted the sink on to the old abused white tiles. The dishes I placed in rows like military ranks guarding the gates of the life I wish to be my own.

       

Before engaging this formation of grime armored dishware I set to the stinky towels I’d been soaking over night. I found that the smell of cat urine can only be truly removed by ammonia. The water once blue from this had turned brown and the smell of urine stayed as the towels left.

       

This was the nature of my day of drudgery. I would battle the ranks of the dishes, do laundry, and in the mess of this sleep and draw. I was hampered by a glaze in my left eye that told me how hard my kidneys were working after that workout.

       

Now it’s Sunday night at eight and the weekend is nearly gone. I’ve spent it all working, well, next week I promise myself time to relax, and I know I’ll break that promise.

Stay on top of things, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Weather the Storm

12^th August 2013

Dear Cassi,

       

I find it somewhat strange to contemplate that it has been a year now, or there about, that I have not had a sink in my bathroom. Having to wash my hands in the kitchen is something of an annoyance but the fact that pickles can choose to live this way that that Pony Girl can permit this to go on baffles me.

       

I’ve worked in places where the dirt and grime almost grow on your skin and great hoards of cockroaches play in open view so a dirty life in nothing to me. Still, it stands so far beyond my reason that when someone has the funds to live better then choose so difficult a situation.

       

I have to admit that I’ve made mistakes in trying to get this house back in order. I’ll be the first to say that, but I still wouldn’t have chosen this situation. That’s what happens when you deal with those of my blood relation, they’re all crazy and me, well, I just live here.

Weather the storm, 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