Catporn.net

It was a home that was likely built in the early 1900s—before the depression of the 20^th Century. In some towns it would have been called a painted lady. It was three stories tall and had a large wrap around porch beside the front door.

This wasn't a cold visit—I knew the name of the person who I was supposed to see and I had a list of tasks that I needed to do for them. I was working for a social service agency and was performing various chores for elderly clients. I had been told that today's client was blind.

And so she was. A pleasant woman who lived in that large house all by herself. She was pretty blind, but could see well enough to putter around the house. She needed help with some tasks that required sight as well as someone with a strong back and hands. While I worked for her we talked.

She told me of her life, how she came into the house and how the grand kids loved running about when they visited. They didn't live close by so she couldn't be with them as much as she wanted. She also liked to cook. As my tasks began to wind down she invited me to have some lunch.

The lunch was awesome—some roast chicken and stuffing, collard greens and mashed potatoes. Being quite the hungry young man I was always in favor of free food, especially home cooked food. I dug in as she poured me a glass of lemonade. Then she said “Oh, I forgot the bread!” She got up and went over to a plastic bag where she retrieved two slices of bread and placed them on a plate that she set before me.

It was slices of white bread from a well known company, except the slices were no longer white. They were a startling blue/green color of a mold garden. My eyes went to the stuffing on my plate, and I realized that it was likely made from that same bread.