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The Last Donut

      It was spring. Donna loved one thing about spring and that was the knowledge that summer would soon follow and she could swim everyday. Knowing that more daily exercise was on the horizon prompted her to buy more goodies than normal at the A & P that day. So when Johnny, Jerry and Eve got home from school, they surrounded the box of donuts that sat waiting for them in the center of the kitchen table. They each got a glass and Johnny poured a big glass of milk for Eve, Jerry and himself. It was as if someone had said, “go” because they dove into the donuts like deranged mimes, stuffing their faces with more donuts than legally allowed at polite tables. Their milk glasses were nearing empty and so was the donut box. With each taking one more donut, the realization that their mother must have eaten a donut or two sank in, because there was only one donut left.
      Jerry pulled the box toward him. “This donut is mine.”
      Johnny looked as if he’d been slapped, grabbed the donut box and ripped it out of Jerry’s hands. “Over my dead body!”
      “We can arrange that after you go to sleep, now give it back!
      Eve was riveted. They might actually come to blows over this lone donut! That would be great because then the whole drama would play all the way through dinner.
      “What’s going on in here?” Donna asked as she stepped into the kitchen at just the right moment.
      “Nothing,” Johnny said, placing the crumpled donut box back on the table, making sure it was just out of Jerry’s reach.
      “Mommy, Johnny’s going to eat the last donut,” Jerry tattled with indignation. Jerry always felt that he deserved more donuts since he was the skinniest in the family.
      “How many donuts did you all have?”
      “We each ate about three,” Eve said helpfully.
      “Then you’ve had too much. Save this one for someone else.” Donna set the donut box back in the center of the table. Then she left the kitchen, satisfied that all was settled.
      Jerry, a devious thirteen year-old, giggled and snatched the donut box. He opened the box and glared at the donut.
      “Go ahead, eat it and I’ll tell,” Johnny threatened.
      Jerry worked his tongue around his mouth and then spit on the chocolate iced donut.
      “That’s disgusting!” Johnny protested.
      Jerry’s eyes narrowed like a fox’s. “Now you can’t eat it and I’ll have it for later.”
      “Oh yeah?” Johnny leaned over and smacked the donut out of the box and onto the table. He placed it on his empty plate. Then he hocked up the biggest blob of saliva Eve had ever seen and spit on the donut.
      “Hah, now you can’t have it either!”
      Jerry was stunned. He hadn’t though of Johnny being that smart.
      “You’re both jerks!” Eve yelled and spit on the donut, too.
      There they sat staring at the donut that no one dared to eat.
      Just then Debbie, breezed in through the front door. She paused at the entry to put down her briefcase. She posed like a model at the end of a runway waiting to turn, then slipped off her white Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School gloves and swung them into one palm just like they do in the movies. With the other hand, she whisked off her little round hat, pins and all. Gliding up the stairs to the living room, she declared, “I’m home!”
      Donna came down the hallway, “Hi Debbie! What a nice surprise! How was your day?”
      “Oh, Mom, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you!” Walking into the kitchen Debbie stopped, mesmerized by the donut. “I don’t believe it,” she said, reaching out for the donut. “You creeps finally saved me the last donut!”
      With that she delightfully gobbled up the donut. Johnny, Jerry and Eve sat mute. Their jaws dropped. They were thinking that if they valued their lives, they weren’t going to tell her. Johnny’s big blob of spit was sitting on the plate. It must have run off the donut.
      Johnny moved quickly. “Here, let me clean this up.” He put the plate in the sink and ran water on it.
      Jerry giggled.
      Debbie spun around on her heels. “What’s so funny?”
      “He’s retarded,” Johnny said leaving the room.
      “And what are you looking at?”
      Eve sat very still like a deer caught in headlights. “I thought I saw a stain on your blouse.”
      “Oh, my god, Mom do I have a stain?”
      “Let me look. No, I don’t see anything.”
      Jerry and Eve monitored each other’s movements as they slipped out of their chairs and left the kitchen. Eve didn’t even breathe. They raced down the stairs and out the back door where they laughed until their sides hurt. They discussed when might be a good time to tell Debbie about the donut, but realized it would be a suicide mission. One thing everyone knew from that day on was that you never eat the last donut.

Doris James

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