Slate Contest

I entered the Slate Signifigant Object contest. The paramaters of the contest was to write a 50o word or less story about an object. Below is my submission about the object above. I found it fun to do and staying under 500 words a chore.

Susan had married into the Grayston family twenty-two years ago and had had escaped hosting Thanksgiving Dinner. Family matters had been out of sorts since the family matriarch, MiMi Grayston, passed away in April. The Grayston clan would meet for the holiday at an 1100 square foot house in Old Town for the perfect Thanksgiving Dinner hosted by Grandma Mimi. Karen’s family was left out.

Susan had married the Grayston’s beloved youngest grandson, Robert. That man could do no wrong in the eyes of his MiMi or his parents. Of course they were not married to him, had to do his laundry, or listen to him explain the fallacies of the prevent defense, again. Her only family standing was the fact that she bore two Graystons--seventeen year old, Emily, the current reigning clan princess and twelve year old, Robert Jr.

She was annoyed, but it came as no surprise when her husband announced at MiMi’s funeral that he would host Thanksgiving Dinner that year. Susan knew then that she would spend two weeks getting ready for the horde and it could never meet the standards of MiMi. Susan knew why she was spending time getting ready; Robert would sit in his chair, give the remote control a work out, and watch her work herself into a tizzy.

MiMi was not a bad person. In fact, she was the sweetest lady Susan ever met. She was the only Grayston to treat her as part of the family. She died with such dignity even thought cancer ravaged her body. Susan remembered her last visit MiMi; her eyes were grey and her frail frame was just a shadow of herself. That is why Susan found herself crawling in the basement looking for that little brown Bar-B-Q sauce brush pot MiMi gave her that last visit. Mimi had looked at Susan and smiled, and said in a frail voice, “You need to have this. It has brought me such joy.”

Susan had no idea why this little dust collector was so important, but she did realize that it must be on her table for Grampy Grayston to see. She set the table, placing her treasured center piece sauce pot in its place of honor in front of the patriarch’s seat.

She felt ready for the judgment of her husband’s family and hoped, maybe this once the Graystons would appreciate her effort. The multitude gathered around the table. Karen was ecstatic when critical Aunt Lilly even complimented Susan on her efforts. The illusion of civility was there when grace was said and was abandoned when devouring of the over abundance began.

Robert Jr took the little pot to brush some sauce on his turkey. Susan swelled with pride as Grampy took the little pot out of Robert, Jr’s hand. Grampy looked at it carefully and announced, “Boy, I wouldn’t use anything out of this thing. That brush tickled your MiMi in places we can’t talk about at the table.”

Susan remembered MiMi’s smile.