Community Table

It was an early fall evening. Leaves were painting the town. The sun was disappearing behind the clouds and the night was setting in. A black cat was sitting on Gerrick Button’s porch, staring at him intently. It was his neighbor, Anna Harbor’s cat, McMuffins. He always found his way to Gerrick’s porch throughout the week. He had many guesses to why that was, but Gerrick would normally just walk by McMuffins, say “Hello” and let the cat be. Later in the evening, he would hear Anna yelling for McMuffins, but Gerrick believed that the cat did some things to antagonize her.

              Gerrick turned his kitchen light on. His orange cat, Garfield, was sitting at the kitchen table. “Garfield. Seriously.” He gestured for the cat to move and Garfield, unwillingly, obliged. The cat sauntered out of the side door and Gerrick just shook his head. He opened his refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water as he plopped some food into Garfield’s bowl for dinner. The food was almost fifty dollars a case at the gourmet store, but his cat would accept nothing less. A knock came on the front door. Gerrick opened it to find his other neighbor, J.T. Littles, standing there. The man was holding an aluminum covered dish in one hand and a bottle of sparkling grape juice in another. “Gerrick! Good evening. I was wondering if you would be interested in some chicken parmesan.” J.T. had a look of desperation on his face and Gerrick gestured for the man to come in. “It has been quite a week.” Gerrick noticed J.T.’s shirt was wrinkled, and he was wearing a very faded pair of jeans and a pair of black house slippers. J.T. was an author. He had written a series of science fiction novels that had been moderately successful, and he was currently working on a new book. Gerrick felt the stress of drafting a new book was getting to him because he had seen J.T. standing in his yard, staring aimlessly. His mailbox was overrun. And his porch was covered in pizza boxes.

              “My sister dropped this off to me. She also told me that leaving pizza boxes on my porch made my house look like a dumpster.” J.T. laughed. “That was probably the nicest thing she said during the whole conversation.” Gerrick pulled some plates and glasses from his cabinet and sat down at the kitchen table. J.T. unwrapped the dish and Gerrick used a spatula to give them both portions. “My sister learned how to cook from my mother. She would spend hours of the day in the kitchen watching my mother make everything. And what was I doing? Outside in the treehouse reading books.” J.T. shook his head. “I can barely cook eggs but at least I went to Notre Dame.” “How’s life at the office?” Gerrick took a bite of the chicken parmesan. It was quite delicious. “Nothing too eventful. Nothing really goes on unless somebody’s lunch is missing or something like that.” Gerrick did administrative duties for a financial lawyer. He collaborated with a team of four other administrative assistants. It was quiet. Although, yesterday, Lori had accused Miles of stealing her tuna salad. To which Miles responded that if he had, it was to throw it away because tuna salad was an assault on noses. “Why have you had such a long week?” J.T. was eating big mouthfuls of chicken parmesan, as if he had not really eaten in days. “My publisher read a rough draft of my first chapter and told me it was pure garbage. Exact words.” J.T. sighed. “Then tells me I have one week to fix it, or they are scraping the book. Then my only choice will be to draft book four in my first series.” “Can I ask what the book is about?” Garfield came in the door and hopped in the chair next to Gerrick. His eyes fixated on the chicken parmesan. Gerrick waved him off, but Garfield still sat in the chair. “Honestly, I do not even know. I stayed up plenty of nights throwing words together.” J.T. laughed. “My publisher said my characters are stale. Like old bread. Exact words again.” A knock came on the front door again. When Gerrick went to answer the door, J.T. slid Garfield some chicken parm. Gerrick opened the door to find Anna. “Good evening, Gerrick.” “Good evening.” “I was wondering if you had seen McMuffins.” Gerrick shook his head. “I have not.” Anna sighed. “I suppose he’ll come home eventually.” “Would you like to join us?” Gerrick was surprised at his hospitality. Anna also seemed taken aback. “Um…sure.” They joined J.T. in the kitchen. “J.T. Nice to see you join civilization.” Gerrick passed Anna a plate and a cup of sparkling juice. Anna took one bite. “I know Mary made this for sure.” J.T. looked at Anna with confusion. “Your sister drops off meals to me all the time. Last week it was chicken and dumplings. Delicious.” Gerrick laughed to himself at J.T.’s continued confusion. “How is the book coming?” “Not great.” Anna nodded her head. “Your first series was good. Beautifully written. I enjoyed it. What is this book about?” J.T. told Anna what he had told Gerrick. “I think you should write something more personal. Get yourself out of that genre.” “I can’t write about anything personal.” “Why is that?” Gerrick asked. “I don’t know where to even start with that.” Anna was cutting another piece of parm. “You are afraid to be vulnerable. You are missing vulnerability. Mary said you spent a year with your grandfather on his farm. That. Or when you went to London for six months.” “My goodness…she’s told you a lot.” “Well…I like to know people who bring me food,” Anna responded.

              About an hour later, the three of them were still sitting in the kitchen. The fall night had turned cooler, and the sky was now completely dark. Gerrick had poured some apple cider and the three were sharing an apple pie. McMuffins had appeared through Gerrick’s side door and was sitting with Garfield on the kitchen floor. “We should do this again,” Anna stated. After J.T. and her had left, Gerrick sat at his kitchen table with Garfield under his feet. His mother used to host people from their neighborhood throughout his childhood. His father would tell him it was because she never knew how to cook small portions. But he knew it was because she enjoyed having people in her kitchen. She loved the comradery. And as Gerrick had spent the evening laughing and conversing with J.T. and Anna, he could see why she had always beckoned for more people in the kitchen.