decided to walk down the hallway rather than go in
and watch a soap opera with Great-aunt Frances. The
kitchen was down the hall on the right. Just past it was
the dining room, and across from it was an office and
another door. All the furniture I saw looked old and
worn. Nothing was polished and sparkling like the
furniture in Grandmother Emma's house.
I opened the closed door and saw a stairway
going down into the basement. Then I heard Lester
Marshall's daughter Mae Betty filling the pail with
water somewhere behind me. so I closed the door and
went to the kitchen. Looking through it into the
laundry room. I saw her fuming over the sink and
mumbling to herself.
I was glad Felix hadn't come this far into the
house and seen the kitchen. If he thought the other
parts of the house were bad, he would think this was a
disaster. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned up not
only after breakfast but after last night's dinner and
maybe even yesterday's lunch. too. The table was
covered with dishes and glasses and some open food
containers. I wondered how long the bottle of milk
had been out and if it had turned sour.
The sink was filled with dishes. Why hadn't
they been put in the dishwasher? I wondered, but then
again. I didn't see anything that resembled a
dishwasher. The small refrigerator and the gas stove
looked old to me. However, although it was not nearly
as big as Grandmother Emma's kitchen, it was a nicesize kitchen with plenty of counter space. When it was
cleaned up, it would probably look very nice. I