Salad For One

Salad for One
by Todd Eastman


Susan unlocked the door and let herself in, quickly closing and locking it behind her before dropping her purse and keys on the little table next to the couch. Then she plopped herself on the couch and let out a sigh as she kicked off her shoes.

She was exhausted from working so much over-time, but she needed it to pay for the trip last month for her and her son Toby.  It had been very expensive, but well worth the cost.

After resting a few minutes, she let out another sigh.  She took a deep breath and called out, “Toby, I’m home!”  After no answer seemed forthcoming, she called out again, a little louder, “Sweetie, I’m home!  Are you okay?”  This time she heard Toby’s muffled reply from upstairs.

Satisfied with the response, she got up and headed for the kitchen, noting the disarray and general mess the house had become. Like those who own too many indoor cats, she was becoming accustomed to the lingering odor. She sighed again, unaware that it was becoming a habit.

Susan looked around the clean and tidy kitchen, a stark contrast to the rest of the house.  She considered it a small favor for which she was very grateful. She pulled out some pre-cooked meat from the refrigerator, along with what she needed to make a small salad.

While she was preparing her dinner, she thought back to the day she and Toby had walked in while her husband Paul was having sex with the cleaning lady on the kitchen table. Toby had been twelve years old at the time; old enough to know what was happening, but too young to understand the ramifications.  In fact, Toby had shown a little too much interest as he openly stared at the naked woman in front of him, taking in the scene with a big grin on his face.

After sending Toby to his room and firing the cleaning lady on the spot, Susan and her husband had a huge argument, complete with flying kitchen utensils and broken dishes, until Paul slapped Susan across the face, leaving a crimson hand print on her cheek.

That had been too much for Susan, and without thinking, she had plucked the butcher knife from the counter and drove it sideways, between Paul’s ribs.  Paul died with a look of utter surprise on his face as he crumpled to the floor.

Toby didn’t ask about his father’s whereabouts, assuming his mother had kicked him out of the house along with the cleaning lady.  But Toby’s behavior changed dramatically.  Once a polite and well-behaved boy, Toby began to strike out by constantly playing his iPod so loud that Susan could hear the music escaping from the ear plugs as he tried his best to ignore her. He also began staying up late at night playing the most violent video games he could get his hands on.  Once a good student, he had begun ditching classes.

Susan accepted all of this because she had no other choice. She couldn’t take Toby to counseling, out of fear that the murder of her husband would somehow come to light.  She decided to just wait and see how things turned out, hoping it was a phase he was going through, like the one she had experienced as a child.

Unfortunately, things only got worse when Toby discovered his father’s body in the deep freezer in the basement, with big chunks missing from his frozen thighs. The slow realization that, not only had his mother killed his father, but also that they had been EATING him was just too much to handle. Toby became irrational, alternately screaming at her and sobbing with emotion as he threw up his last meal.

When Toby made the mistake of shoving Susan away, she had gone berserk, responding by violently shaking Toby by the shoulders, making him look like one of those bobble-head toys Paul had been so fond of.  When she shoved Toby back, her intent was to shove him against the wall.  Instead, he fell backwards at an awkward angle, striking his head against the wall, down where the wall met the floor.  With a sickening crunch, Toby’s neck snapped.  Only then did Susan realize that her temper had caused her to once again hurt someone she loved.

Susan’s thoughts returned to the salad she was preparing.  After carefully tossing the vegetables and mixed greens, she added thin slices of the cooked meat and topped it off with a healthy dose of salad dressing.  She no longer tried to get Toby to eat dinner with her.  He had no interest in sharing her meals anymore.  In fact, he avoided the kitchen completely.  But she smiled and reminded herself how much better things had become since their trip to the old doctor in Haiti.

After she finished her meal, she cleaned up and walked towards the living room, hoping to visit with Toby before she went to bed for the night.  To her surprise, she saw Toby as he slowly walked down the stairs.  He had a tendency to lean against the wall while holding on to the rail, leaving a moist wet trail marking his passage.

“Hi sweetie! Did you have a good day?” Susan asked.  Toby’s response was a quiet moan and a beaming smile as he tried to nod his head up and down. His head flopped around like a rag doll’s, a result of the broken neck.  She wondered if one of those neck collar braces used by whiplash victims might help.

She smiled as Toby gave her a big hug.  She held his head in her hands and gave him a kiss on the cheek, hardly noticing that his nose was now completely decayed, leaving a gaping view of his skull underneath.