Writing Without the Me #12

She eats her meal, slowly, thinking about the latest writing assignment she has given herself. The prompt is called “The Dinner Party,” of all things. It’s exercise #34 in the book she’s working from, but it’s only the twelfth one she’s done. Or will have done, if it ever gets done. She’s been skipping the ones that are just general writing advice in favor of the exercises that are, well, more exercise-like.  So she racks her brain.

Or is it wracked?

She considers it for a moment and decides it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t gray matter!

She tries to rein in her thoughts.

Or is she trying to reign over her thoughts??

She sighs and rips a piece of toast off her piece of toast and slides an apple slice on top before slipping the whole thing in her mouth. The bite is absolutely delicious. The Fuji apple is cold and crunchy on top of the hot sourdough bread, still soft even after it’s been toasted. She thinks about how few people have ever— could have ever! — experienced this particular combination of foods. Each one so simple but with a rich history. One is built on an ancient Egyptian recipe that’s older than written language. The other is a cultivar less than a century old, developed in Japan by crossing two of its American ancestors. Is her tongue the very first place they’ve crossed paths? She thinks about the probabilities. She pictures her face with numbers and equations scrolling past it like she’s caught in a gif.

Or is it gif?

She sighs again and sips her coffee. Hot and black. It travels down from mug to mouth, esophagus to stomach, much like a young Gregorio Menendez Bustelo immigrated from Spain to Cuba. From there he made his way to NYC and East Harlem, where he first founded his namesake brand in 1928. And now it’s sold across America, including here in San Francisco.

Amazing stuff there.

And amazing stuff in here?

She has more of her meal while she thinks. Having decided the Fuji apple and sourdough toast combo has probably already been experienced by someone else, she wonders if you include the black coffee— specifying that it’s the Bustelo of course…

Of course!

She wonders if she’s the very first person to have these three particular things together.

I’m wondering it now too!

She is thankful that the voice in her head has decided to stop working at cross purposes to her

The thing is…

She wonders now what “the thing” is.

It’s a big world.

She pictures the world and decides it can’t be that big if it fits her in head. She eats another bite. 

Were you thankful I stopped working at cross purpose to you just so you could work at cross purpose to me?

She is sorry and makes herself feel better by reminding them both they are the same person.

Well, anyway, regardless of how big you think the world is, there’re a lot of people who’ve been on it and/or are still on-

Endor?

And/or. I feel like I pretty obviously didn’t just bring up Star Wars for no reason.

“Oh.”

She sips her coffee and suddenly the whole scene washes away in a wall of brown before your eyes. It occurs to you that these two were just like crabs in a bucket, taking turns trying to climb up the side and pulling each other down. You think about your favorite meal, and wonder how many people have had one exactly like it. Maybe it's a dinner. Maybe it's a party. You are encouraged to share the details of that meal in the comments below.