If Dishes Could Talk

Another stack of dishes came to the backroom to add to the already overwhelming pile. Each bowl, plate and cup a story of its own in each dent, crack and stain. They sat askew from the uneven edges of the homemade dishes that now sat by the sink, waiting.

It seemed as though his heart stopped as he stared at the work in front of him. He thought of home with his bed and all things familiar to him only to make the stacks seem taller and never ending.

Each dish passed through its soapy bath to wash away part of its story. The sauce from the spaghetti the elderly gentlemen had as he talked with his granddaughter, the remnants of chowder all washed away. Crumbs and lettuce leaves left on the business women's plate from her business luncheon from her half-eaten salad and bread stick.

Soon the large piles became smaller until it became nothing but a puddle of soapy water and bits of uneaten food, the only thing left of the forgotten stories the dishes once told in secrecy. The tales passed between the elderly gentlemen and his granddaughter he had not seen in years were now forgotten and the verdict of the women's business lunch now gone down the drain as the last bit of salad dressing washed away.

Now a new pile sat, clean and new, like the blank canvas of an artist or the empty page of an author, waiting for a new day and new stories to tell. They still had their dents and cracks and they still sat askew, but these were only a short part of the story the rest having been edited by soap and water.

He turned his back to look at the dark room, the clean dishes stared back at him, as if saying goodbye for now until a new day begun. He walked away from them quickly to return home to his bed and the things he loved, shutting the door between them.

Author's Note

Alright so I posted this on dA too but whatever... Lily Tuck came to my school for a creative writing workshop and this was one of the things I wrote. It's a bit short but pretty long considering how much time I had to write it. We had postcards and had to write a story based on the picture, mine was a stack of dishes... Enjoy :3

Reviews

[Gabriella]

This piece is very descriptive and flows quite nicely. A stack of dishes seems like a hard thing to write about, but you did it very well. I'm sure anyone who has been overwhelmed by work can relate. Or maybe even anyone who's done dishes at home, often a thankless job. But not only that, it's so profound, how you connect it to the world outside of the back room where the dishes are being done. This was really excellent, keep up the good work.