Then she got me a cup of tea and a bowl of cottage cheese.
That stopped me snuffling to ask, "What do I put the cottage cheese on?"
"Don't put it on anything. Just eat it. Eat a bowl of it every day. Here, have an orange, too. But no cookies or candy, none of that sweet, starchy stuff. And no string beans. They're not good for you."
My eyes must have popped, but I guess I knew right that first day that you don't argue with Kate.
I ate the cottage cheese—it doesn't really have any taste anyway—and I sure have always agreed with her about the string beans.
Off and on since then I've seen quite a lot of Kate.
I'd pass her on the street, chirruping to some mangy old stray cat hiding under a car, and he'd always come out to be stroked.
Sometimes there'd be a bunch of little kids dancing around jeering at her and calling her a witch.
It made me feel real good and important to run them off.
Quite often I went with her to the A & P and helped her carry home the cat food and cottage cheese and fruit.