Kitchen Debate (Banta Round The Atlas)

After the horror of the 1945 wars, the housekeeper of a middle-income British family went out shopping for a brand-new set of modern, sophisticated kitchen utensils to refurbish and replace the existing ones, decades old, from an international trade fair. The first of its kind after the turmoil that befell mankind at the time, the toll truck delivered the carefully sealed packages, carried into the kitchen by the delivery men, to the amazement of the anxiously waiting comrades. It was the replacement of their colleagues, resulting in a heated dramatic debate of many worlds, perspectives, and paradigms.

Each utensil boasted about how superior their origin was in the scheme of happenings from a previously confounded environment, where they could only tell of the sun by the evidence of its rays. Some characters created situations based on past accusations, using them as reasons to occupy positions today and acquire influence. Others stood their ground, not shifting even with little or nothing to show for their evident solidity. But within, each believed everyone had a reason to live and be treated as equal, despite the variety of choices that modernity brought to the masters, who could use whoever they considered worthy.

Ever since these additions, Thomas hadn’t gotten a good sleep, to say nothing of his dreams, which often popped up during the day as fairy tales of bewilderment. Did that really happen? Such questions he tended to ponder while doing chores. Perhaps the economy resulted in this; if that were the case, there wouldn’t be any resolve to cash in on the fair. At the Babatunde’s, a section structured out of the old carefully maintained duplex for cooking in recent times produced different scenes and tunes—from a circus to an opera, a political rally to a free-for-all battle zone. Tears came but never dropped, tensions raged but always found a subtle slide to a stop. Words traded were harped on and returned; everyone perceived relevance as the trophy, priceless.