The Beginning

I think that we should begin by explaining the title "Warm Milk and Cold Green Beans." Like any good parents, mom and dad were very conscious of our vegetable and calcium intake. Every night at dinner we were forced to drink a whole glass of milk and we usually had green beans as a vegetable. The rule in our house was that we could not leave the table until all of our milk was gone and we had eaten all of our green beans. I think Dennis was the only one of us that actually liked milk, but none of us liked green beans or the occasional salad. Another important fact about dinner time is that Sarah Margaret and I sat next to each other on the world's smallest bench. Not only was bench tiny, but it had a nail that stuck out of the leg and always scratched me. So we would eat dinner, usually mom's delicious grilled chicken, and then mom and dad would remind us that we could not leave the table until we drank all of our milk and ate all of our green beans. Dennis usually scarfed his down as fast as he could so he could go play in the cul-de-sac with his friends. Sarah Margaret would whine a lot, but finally just plug her nose and choke them down. I, on the other hand, refused to eat my green beans and drink my milk. I would usually tell dad that I would just sleep on the bench at the table rather than finish my dinner. Dad would just say, "Fine, you can sleep there then." Eventually everyone would leave the kitchen, and I was left with my milk and green beans. Since I didn't want to be left alone and I had no one left to complain to, I would slowly drink the now warm milk, and eat the cold green beans. You would think that I would learn my lesson, but I pretty much repeated this senario every night.