Happiness Should Not Wait by Stephanie McGrath
At eighteen, I wash dishes.
I wash dishes and the suds slip away, draining down the old pipes that have seen too many years. The water is cold now, and the food from plates catches in the metal rod above the drain. The sink is empty. Soon it will be replaced with scalding water and frothing suds; an ocean contained in my tiny world.
The plates will be tiny islands I can clean and fix, understand and visit. I’ll scrub them clean, and they will be brand new, so easy to please. The glasses and dessert plates holding residue ice cream and a sweet, white powder are scrubbed clean too; saccharine dreams dissipating in the water.
It’s busy tonight. The staff work behind me, further into the kitchen. The waitresses bustle in and out. They don’t speak to me. The plates stack higher and higher, all waiting on me. I am like a God of Ants and here in this damp, dingy corner is my creation.
Behind me, they fire out plates and orders and jokes. On the metal shelves are meals waiting to be served, kept hot under the glowing fluorescent lights. Every now and then, they look through the window to the kitchen, commenting on who they know and what’s happening. I can’t see the window from the sink. I hardly crane my head. I’m not interested anyway.
Kathleen has offered me a place in the salad bar. I can’t think of anything worse. She said it’s natural to keep moving forward. Chatter booms as the door swings open and a thunderous laugh explodes out of Kathleen. I can’t hear the joke; the drain’s gurgling again. I sigh, listening to the pipes and pop a bubble with a sopping, yellow-gloved finger.
I continue washing dishes.
Stephanie McGrath found her love for writing when she was fourteen. It was like discovering magic existed! At sixteen, working a job and entering the real world, she waited for this phase to end. Now, at twenty, winner of the Edna O’Brien Creative Writing Bursary, she’s excited to embrace the world of writing.
Edna O’Brien Young Writers Award
@stephaniemcgrath.bsky.social
Photo by Mark D’aiuto via Pexels.com
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