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Hospitality
- The Kent State University Press
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5 H O s P I t a l I t y I want no houseguests nor in-laws living in my basement. No out-of-luck nephews sleeping in the spare room I use as an office. Visitors should leave my house before the local news comes on, even on New year’s Eve when I might invite a few friends for dinner, then shoo them on to someone else’s party. Old folks moving in and peeing in my beds— Not allowed. No moaning Lord Lord or playing dominoes at the table or pushing doors open with their walkers, their rubber stoppers tapping all night down these hallways. Blind men with no sons and no daughters will not spit tobacco juice into coffee cans while rocking on the front porch, they will not splatter their dribble on wooden floors or climb the slow stairs to my garage apartment. I don’t want them. When the phone rings, I won’t answer it. When friends extend invitations, I’ll decline. No crowd at my funeral, no sympathy cards, no flood of casseroles left at my door. ...