KEEN OBSERVATION

Emma stood at the kitchen sink and peeled potatoes. She stood in front of the kitchen sink for hours and hours every day and most of that time she peeled potatoes. Her husband, Edward, had surprised her with the installation of a garbage disposal soon after the family moved into the cottage. Few homes had a disposal device in the ‘50s. Ed was a skilled mechanic and knew everything about engines and motors so he simply installed it himself.

The disposal was a noisy machine and it frightened Emma. It took some time before she got used to the idea of grinding items to smithereens. She experienced a certain amount of fear each time she flipped on the disposal switch. She forbade her two sons and young daughter to go near the scary grinder.

Potatoes were the basis of every meal in her household. No matter what else Emma served, the potato appeared in some form. For breakfast she prepared hash browned potatoes, sliced potatoes, cubed potatoes, potato pancakes, or fried mashed potatoes if the boys hadn’t been home for dinner the previous evening. For lunch she offered potato salad or potato chips with their sandwiches. Potato salad in their home was not just a summer food. For dinner she prepared potatoes mashed, baked, scalloped, fried, Frenched, boiled or creamed in soup. Emma even made her own homemade potato chips. She thought the store-bought chips were too expensive and they were often stale and always greasy. Hers were light and fresh tasting.

Emma served potatoes at every meal because it made perfect sense. There were six people in the family for a while and though food was expensive, potatoes were cheap. They tasted great and they filled the stomachs of Emma’s large family. There were three adults and three children in her home and it was an enormous job to keep them all fed.

Her boys, Jim the oldest and Sam a-year-and-a-half younger, had large appetites. As Emma peeled potatoes on the horrific afternoon that would change her life forever, she remembered a recent family episode that involved her beloved potato. It happened during dinner and the memory of it made her laugh out loud.

One night Ed scolded Sam while they all sat around the dinner table. Sam had made a mess on the front porch and his father was pissed. While their father chewed Sam out, Jim looked around the table and noticed no one was eating. The family was more interested in watching Ed and his younger son than eating. All except Jim.

While everyone else was engrossed in Sam’s embarrassment, Jim piled up a giant mound of mashed potatoes on his plate. He left one spoonful in the serving bowl. He didn’t want to be a pig and hog it all.