For as long as I
can remember,
my mother always set
the table with
two sets of identical
salt & pepper shakers.
***
It made little difference
of how many were at the table
or the meal being served,
***
my mother would set
the table with
two sets of identical
salt & pepper shakers.
***
I remember the day
I stayed home from school
due to a high fever.
My dad rolled in the TV set so
I could watch cartoons,
my little sister lent me her
favorite comic books,
and my mom brought in a tray
of my two favorite foods:
spaghetti o’s and
a side of saltine crackers.
***
And there on the tray …
***
two sets of identical
salt & pepper shakers.
***
And the seasons passed,
and the years went by
and we all got a little bit older,
and a little bit wiser
and through all the changes
there was one constant
***
the one thing that never changed …
***
The table was always
adorned with two sets of
identical
salt & pepper shakers.
***
And though we all wondered, we never spoke of it …
***
That is, until last week,
when I went to visit my mother at
the Home of the Very Age-ed.
***
She and I sat in her
small room & reminisced
about happier times and
family members long gone
***
And then, finally, after an hour, or so,
I gathered up the nerve
to ask her the question that had
nagged me for so many years.
***
“Why did you always set the table with two sets of identical salt & pepper shakers?”
***
My mother closed her
eyes as if in contemplation
***
She spoke just
above a whisper,
and I leaned in close so
as not to miss a word.
***
“One set of the identical
salt & pepper shakers, my son,”
said my mother,
“was poison!”
*
finis
for j.p.
Happy new y’ar. Great piece.
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Thanks, SH
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Mystery solved.
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Finally. And just before dinner, too.
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Timely!
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Yikes! She just kept hoping, huh?
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Fortunately, I have always been good at not eating poison.
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I really enjoyed this story. It is so inspiring…
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Never give up!
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‘Tis the seasoning to be jolly!
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la,la!
Happy New Y’ar!
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Hah!
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Really true?
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That is how I mis-remember it anyway.
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😱
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Ha ha! I love this! Thanks, Tref.
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Thanks, SoP!
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Your lucky streak continue, through a happy Feb-onwards, t!
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Thanks, e!
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Guess you may inherit both pairs, one day.
And invite your grandchildren to tea…
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(Cue fore-boding music)
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Love it! A fine work Tref. If it ever makes it to an 80s music concert adaption you should absolutely insist on the bands Salt-N-Pepa and Poison performing.
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Thanks, VTA. I appreciate your kind words.
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Reblogged this on davidbruceblog #2.
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Thanks you my friend.
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With luck like yours, you need to hang out at the casino. I’d say you are a dead ringer to win big. Happy new year!
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I stopped going to the casinos when they removed the hay-penny slots
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Shaker roulette! 😲
Happy new yar to you also, Tref. 😊
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That would have made a fine title! HNY, BHA!
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And…now you know. A perfect reason to live a life unseasoned.
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Amen, SP!
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I wish I had grown up in a gingerbread house – rather jealous of your (mis) memories…
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Thanks, WW!
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Brilliant. You had me suckered in, and the left hook came out of nowhere…
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Nice double twist. Dark with an embedded question-mark
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You have the constitution of a Grizzly bear
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Whoa! I did NOT see that ending coming.
And, a (very) belated Happy New Year!
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Thanks, SS
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