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2005-09-09 12:36:40 ET Picture this, you walk into a perfectly arranged kitchen. There are drapes on a sliding glass door, and a oval kitchen table alongside of the door. In the middle of the kitchen, there is a strong, sturdy, hand-made island table. Both the kitchen sink and the stove are accessable from its rectangular counter. From the perdfectly positioned kitchen table, you can see the entire kitchen as well as part of the dining room through a door. The door is situated directly across the sliding glass door. In this warm and inviting gathering spot is where the family congregates for an evening meal, dinner. The table is set, placemats and all. A woman around forty is seen waltzing into the kitchen. She walks over to one of the many cabinets located in this kitchen, and pulls out an apron. Tying the tea-pot decorated skirt around her timy waist, she calls out for her children. Two young children, a boy and a girl, come running into the kitchen through the entrance to the family room, also located off the kitchen. The two children immediately head over to the kitchen sink and turn the water on. With a subtle laugh, the young boy turns the water on his sister and soon a full fledged water fight erupts. Laughing, but trying to hold it back, the mother breaks up this entorage. Returning to washing their hands, the children calm down. When their hands are clean, the boy and the girl turn off the faucet and sit down at the kitchen table. The woman walks over to the refrigerator and pulls out a gallon of milk. She then pours it into the childrens glasses. The boy takes one look at his tall cool glass of milk and immediatly takes a sip. Sitting down in her seat, the woman unties her apron and places it on the island table behind her. Before the three can even begin their mean, a man walks in through the basement door. He is wearing a pair of dress pants, a suit jacket, pressed white shirt and a tie. The man carries a dark brown leather breifcase. As soon as the door shuts, both the girl and the boy jump up out of their seats. "Daddy!" they both scream, jumping into his arms. Te woman slowly gets out of her seat and walks oer to the man, embraces him, and simply says "dinner's ready honey." The four sit down at their oval table, and enjoy a nice family dinner, just as they do each night. It is now nine years later, in the very same kitchen where a loving family shared their nightly family dinners. One breif look into the kitchen reveals that there has been a change. The sliding glass doors no longer have beautiful drapes on them, and the countertops are cluttered with papers. A voice is heard from inside the family room. Two people, a man and a teenage girl walk out in a heated argument. The son, now much older an taller, trudges up from the basement with a permenant pout on his face. The girl, the boy and the man silently set the table and prepare dinner. After dinner is ready, the three sit down at the table. This meal is in no comparison as graceful as the ones they used to enjoy a long time ago. The three start on dinner without the woman. Mid-way through their silent meal, a middle aged woman opens the basement door the very same way the man did eight years prior. This time, the two children mutter a hello while chewing their under cooked meal. The man does not even acknowledge her. Skipping dinner altogether, the woman retreats upstairs to have a sshower; the man, in the basement for a ciggarette; the girl, into the mans home office to instant message her friends; the boy, into the family room to watch television. The air around this once beautifully fabricated kitchen table has dried into a silent whisper. The room has become lifeless, the house, has died. The family inside, fallen apart never to be rejuvinated. |
