Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 27-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Broke Like Me
Chapter 1
Fran shakes the sticky jar of garlic powder over the steaming pan of frying onions. Nothing comes out.
“That’s how come it’s stuck,” says Celia. “From the steam.”
Fran goes at the immovable yellowy lump of garlic powder with a knife.
“Celia, why don’t you go and watch TV?”
“When will Syd be home?” Celia asks.
“Don’t call your father Syd,” her mother says, hips wiggling as she mashes the potatoes for shepherd’s pie. From behind, it looks like she’s dancing, but really, Fran doesn’t dance. Celia knows that mashing potatoes is the father’s job. That’s how the Hilroys do it and they’re the most normal family on the street, which is why Celia’s brother wishes he’d been adopted by them. Celia wishes he had been, too.
“I accidentally kicked Miss Whitely today,” Celia says.
“I thought you liked Miss Whitely,” says Fran.
“Accidentally,” Celia says, raising her voice above the sizzling onions. There’s nothing worse than the smell of onions cooking, Celia thinks. She watches her mother add one drop of brown Tabasco sauce to the onions.
“You do know that Tabasco sauce is supposed to be red, right mom?” Celia says. “Bright red. Not brown.”
Fran puts the tiny bottle back in the cupboard with the other rarely used herbs and spices. Oregano, cloves, imitation vanilla.
“Aren’t you going to ask me why I kicked Miss Whitely?”
“You said it was an accident.”
Celia wants to tell her mother how it happened, how Miss Whitely had called her over to her desk to show her the A+ on her essay about the Hottentots of Africa. How Celia was so happy that she spun around on one foot to return triumphantly to her desk and kicked Miss Whitely in the shin. How Miss Whitely hopped around holding her leg, but didn’t yell or swear or anything. It was terrible. Celia felt horrible.
Celia quietly flips through the channels on the TV. Her mother hates the sound of the dial turning. On The Dick Van Dyke Show, Laura is upset because Rob is working late with a beautiful actress.
