Join me today for a post from author CJ West. Enjoy!
Lorado Martin, star of my new novel Dinner At Deadman’s, loves to
rummage around estates of the newly-deceased and prepare them for sale. He’s
attracted to all sorts of collectibles, antiques, about anything lying around
someone’s house that proves interesting.
The title Dinner At
Deadman’s comes from a night Lorado is working in a woman’s home and
decides to eat some cereal from her kitchen. I have been surprised by how
revolting people find the idea of eating something from a dead lady’s home, so
I thought I’d explore that idea with you a bit today.
One of my most surprising food finds was a can of peaches at
the bottom of a set of cellar stairs. The can had rusted through. The peaches
had seeped out and all that remained of them was a dark-colored spot on the
wooden shelf underneath the can. The can must have been sitting there for
several years and I wonder if anyone considered eating those peaches in the few
years before I found them.
I think we can all agree we wouldn’t eat peaches from a
rusty old can, but what about a can of soup in the pantry that was shiny and
new? Could there really be anything wrong with soup that’s been lying around a
while? If it was free, would you take it home? Would you check the expiration
date first?
For me it would be an easy call. If it was canned food that
I would buy anyway, I’d take any can that was in good condition. I’m not sure
exactly what makes eating food from a dead person’s house weird. Is it the idea
that whatever killed them might be infectious? Or is it a superstition that the
food could be haunted? Or maybe the ghost of the previous owner would torment
you for taking it home?
Let’s go to the kitchen next.
I remember eating cereal at my grandmother’s house. It was
always stale. And she always filled bowls by hand, reaching in, grabbing a
handful, and dropping it in a bowl like an excavator. That always seemed a little
gross to me as a kid. The idea of a strange old lady’s hand on my cereal is
enough for me to forgo an open box.
How about you? If you found an unopened box of your favorite
cereal would you take it?
It’s a slippery slope once you get started. You open the
freezer and see frozen steaks. The food starts to have value and in these tough
economic times I think a lot of us would be tempted to take some of that free
food home, especially if it was in a sealed container.
Whether this sounds like a great idea or a crazy one, I hope
you’ll check out Dinner At Deadman’s and explore a
sweet little old lady’s kitchen alongside Lorado.
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C.J. West is the
author of seven suspense novels including The End of Marking Time and Sin and
Vengeance, which was optioned into development for film by Beantown
Productions, LLC (screenplay by Marla Cukor). C.J. blogs at
www.cjwestkills.wordpress.com. You can also find him at www.22wb.com or at
www.facebook.com/cjwestfans
