I'LL PUT THE KETTLE ON

It was first thing in the morning and Steven and I were sitting at the kitchen table. He had his cup of coffee while I drank my tea. “Yuck.” I said after taking a sip. “This tastes awful.” I put my cup down.

“What's wrong with it?”

“I don't know. But when I go to other people's houses, the cup of tea they make me just tastes better.” I complained.

“Maybe they use different tea?” he suggested.

“I've checked. We use the same brand.” I took another sip, and shook my head. “It's got to be the way they make it.”

Steven looked confused. “How do they make it?”

“They boil the water in a tea kettle.” I said. “I just zap mine in the microwave.”

“Do you put the tea bag in the microwave?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Sure, it's quicker.”

“Maybe you should just heat the water in the microwave and then add the tea bag.” Steven suggested.

“Maybe.” I shrugged my shoulder. “We always used to have a kettle, I'm not sure why we gave it up?”

“Because they either have a whistle that wakes the whole house up or they get pitted and gross on the inside.”

“What? I don't remember that?”

“I do.” Steven looked over at his Keurig. “ Before we got the coffee maker I had to use the kettle for my drip coffee. It was a pain in the neck.”

“Wait,” I felt confused. “We don't have a tea kettle anymore because you got a different coffee maker?”

“What?” Now it was Steven's turn to look confused. “No, we got rid of the kettle because it was loud and gross.”

“Really?” I just stared at him.

“Okay, so you don't want to microwave your tea anymore. I get it.” Steven got up from the table and opened the pots and pans drawer. He took out my small sauce pan, “Here you go.” he said as he placed it on top of the stove. “A kettle is really nothing more than a different shaped pot.” He smiled at me hoping he'd fixed the problem.

“Really?” I said again, just staring.

Finally he sighed, “You want a tea kettle don't you.”

“I do.” I smiled and perked right up. “I love when I go into someone's house and I see their cute kettle. It just says; a tea drinker lives here!”

“Oh come on!”

“I'm serious.” I looked over at our kettle-less stove, watching as Steven put the small saucepan back in the drawer. “Besides when someone comes over and you offer them coffee or tea and they say tea it's just nice to say, 'I'll put the kettle on!' Not, 'Sure, let me pull out a saucepan or worse yet let me zap some hot water for you'.”

Steven sat back down at the table. “Fine, but could you at least find one that doesn't whistle?”

I just smiled. I wasn't promising anything.