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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Hospitality (02/07/05)
Samantha looked at her creation. It leaned to the left. The chunk that she hoped she could camouflage, bulged.

Nancy's perfect home, the smell of cooling chocolate confections and homemade potpourri, jumped into Sam's memory. She felt like screaming.

Sam looked at her hands. Three days of scrubbing and painting, cleaning and repotting, shopping and baking left one knuckle sliced, all of her nails chipped, and two broken. Her hands had aged 10 years. Sam glanced again at Mount Nightmare on the countertop and wiped her eyes with the back of her scratchy hand.

Another hour and her house would be invaded by the women who a month earlier had enjoyed a four star meal experience at Nancy's home. Sam's devotion no longer seemed clever. Her repotted plants looked culture shocked. Her gleaming refrigerator front, stripped of the usual notes, coupons and art work, mocked her.

Sam trudged up the stairs, and she turned and looked at her accomplishments. Her eye caught the cat scratching at the French door, leaving muddy paws prints.

Sam cried until she laughed in the shower. She shampooed with her red highlights shampoo and decided that it was maybe her hair color. Like Lucy Ricardo, she was spinning her wheels, scrambling to cover and fix the little things, only managing to make things more chaotic. Once the laughing started again, Sam couldn't stop it. She bent over double as she dried her hair, picturing herself eating Mount Nightmare like Lucy shoved candy in her mouth at the candy factory.

Downstairs, the muddy paw prints on the glass set her off again. Mount Nightmare seemed to have shifted even more to the left. The doorbell rang, and Sam answered it with tears pouring out of her eyes. The look that danced across Linda's face bent Sam double again.

"Sam, honey, what is going on? Are you having a nervous breakdown?" Linda patted Sam on the arm. Sam pointed at Mount Nightmare, then the door, Vanna White style.

The doorbell rang again, and the living room filled with women. Food covered the countertops. Nancy brought a carrot cake with crushed nuts sprinkled in a checked pattern on the creamy white frosting. Each little square had a tiny orange carrot with a green top. The blessing was said.

Between lunch and dessert was when Sam was to give her devotion. She stood and fidgeted until all the eyes in the room turned to her. Sam's throat was dry, and her first words croaked.


"Thank you, ladies. Everything was delicious. I'm sharing my heart today, instead of my repared devotion, as much as I dread doing so." Sam looked at Linda, who smiled at her. "I had great intentions and plans for today. Ted took the children to my mom's the day before yesterday. I believe now, that it was for their protection. He also suggested a phone call to my doctor to discuss anti anxiety medication." Chuckles filled the room. "I suppose, considering my nervous breakdown 2 hours ago over what I have named Mount Nightmare, and the indignant cat prints on my door that Ted was right."

She walked to the counter and grasped the china platter. "I have decided that this dessert is an unwanted three dimensional picture of my spiritual condition. I have been frantic the last week. Not only have I frightened my family, but I have completely squeezed God out of the picture. Because I wanted to be the perfect hostess, I managed to turn something that is supposed to be about God into a disfigured offering. I tried so hard that my flesh got in the way. Please forgive me for not having proper motivation." Nancy stood up and walked toward Sam. She took the platter from her hands and set it on the counter and hugged Sam.

"Sam, I must confess something also. I am so focused on what you ladies think of me, that I almost didn't come today because my first dessert flopped. I use my "spiritual gift of hospitality" making quotation marks in the air, "to avoid doing other things that God calls me to do. I serve Him the way I want to serve Him." Nancy grabbed a fork and stuck it into Mount Nightmare, and brought it to her mouth. "Delicious! To quote a famous queen "Let us spiritual peasants eat cake!"
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Cynthia Zirkwitz
02/14/05
This piece really does a good job of taking the reader along on the emotional rollercoaster ride that occurs when we strive to please others first, and ignore the Wee Small Voice. I appreciate the way you reconciled the 'competition' between Sam and Nancy with Nancy's own admission of perfectionism and feelings of inadequacy. And the ending is truly witty! Good work.
Suzanne R
02/16/05
How good to know that he sees the heart! I'm sure many of us could identify with Mt Nightmare and Nancy's perfect little cake, and all that it symbolized! Blessings on you, sister. (And you've GOT to be a sister, not a brother, with that piece!)
Debbie OConnor
02/23/05
Kelly, I loved this article. It was one of my favorites. The dessert being an unwanted picture of your hostess' spirt was a great image. Congratulations!