Ulysses' Pantry
Melissa McEwen The Whites have a pantry. No one else on Oxbow Lane has a pantry. The Whites' pantry is like a small
general store – shelves stacked with all kinds of soups, all kinds of spices, all kinds of breads. When Puh'kin White goes shopping, she buys in bulk. Instead of having one sack of flour like everybody else on Oxbow Lane, she has five sacks of flour on her shelves in the pantry. Whenever twins Coretta or Loretta are in need of a cup of flour or a cup of sugar or a cup of maple syrup or just a few potatoes, Puh'kin always gives more than a cup; she gives more than just a few. Puh'kin always gives them a full sack or a whole bag or a full bottle of whatever it is they need. She does not make them pay a penny and Coretta and Loretta never offer to pay a penny. This is what plucks Puh'kin's husband Ulysses' nerves. After a begging neighbor leaves with a sack of sugar or a bottle of vinegar oil, Ulysses shouts at Puh'kin, "Now, why can't they go to the store and get their own groceries?"
"I like helping people out," Puh'kin always says to him. It is true; Puh'kin does like helping people out. When Ida needs a ride to the doctor's office, Puh'kin drives
her. When Krissy's kids miss the school bus, Puh'kin takes them to school. When night-school-going Rochelle calls late at night asking how to spell some word, Puh'kin looks up the word in the dictionary for her. And when Joan's husband Fred wants to read the arts section in the Sunday paper, Puh'kin gives her the arts section for him even though Ulysses protests, "Puh'kin, you know I don't like for you to muck with my paper. Fred never brings back the arts section. Why can't he buy his own paper?"
"You don't even read the arts section, Ulysses," Puh'kin would remind him. "I might read it. Next time Joan comes asking for the paper, I'm gonna tell her 'Get your own damn
paper'"
But Ulysses is always asleep when Joan comes for the paper. Ulysses was not asleep, though, on that too hot Sunday, when Coretta came over and walked into the
pantry and took what she needed. Ulysses was on the sofa, sweating, reading his paper, mad about the arts section being missing. He had just finished yelling at Puh'kin when Coretta knocked on the back door.
Puh'kin went to let her in, and when Coretta came in, she had a look on her face as though she was about to laugh. Puh'kin knew she had heard everything. Coretta probably waited, and with her ear pressed to the door, listened to all that was said between Ulysses and Puh'kin, before knocking.
Ulysses had one eye on his paper and one eye on Coretta and Puh'kin in the kitchen. He could not believe
that Coretta walked straight into the pantry and took whatever she wanted. She had a sack of flour (which she carried on her hip as though it were a baby) and a bag of potatoes. She whispered to Puh'kin, "Why Ulysses in there looking so mean?"
Puh'kin just laughed, but she knew Ulysses was fuming inside, waiting for Coretta to go so he could yell at her; and when Coretta finally left, he exploded. He said, "I'm gonna put my foot down, Puh'kin. One more person come here asking for something, I'm gonna knock them over the head with it."
"Ulysses!"
"I'm not kidding," Ulysses said and left the house. He got in his truck and sped out of the driveway so fast and with a loud screech that Mrs. Moriarty, the next door neighbor, poked, and shook, her head out of the window.
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