the soup ladle rule

1 soup ladle rule is written nowhere. it lives beside the stockpot, under the clean towels, and in dennis's wrist when he reaches for it. you take the ladle by the handle, never the bowl, even if the handle is wet and the bowl is clean. you do not use it for chili. chili has its own ladle and everybody knows what happens when you confuse them.

i counted 79 dents in the steel shelf where the ladle rests. dennis said, "it's a spoon." he said this while holding the soup ladle like he had found it in a field. i told him the shelf was not the problem. the shelf had kept count.

he put it back bowl first. the soup went cold while i washed the ladle, dried it, and wrapped the handle in a clean napkin. then i moved the shelf two inches left, where dennis cannot reach it without asking.