She was so patient with the strawberries: slicing them thinly, letting them come to room temperature so their flavor swelled to bursting, macerating them in balsamic and brown sugar for an hour before serving them. But with him, she could not be patient, could not wait for the deliciousness to begin.
Archive for the ‘Not so true’ Category
Incompatible
November 2, 2008She should have known, when he fell in love with her belly before he fell in love with her, that it was never going to work. How could he love what she most hated? And yet, she let him sway her, sway her, sway her, no matter how incompatible they became.
Too much
October 22, 2008With a slight shudder, she pushed away from the table, unable to stomach another bite of the meal. It had been so delicious, so decadent at first. She could hardly hold back after the first bite. But as her fork dug in slower and slower, she came to see the meal for what it was: too rich, too fatty, too generous, too much.
Sweet potatoes
October 14, 2008After the sweet potatoes finished roasting, she lifted them from the baking stone, and served them at a dinner that would have been utterly silent had she not put on some music before they sat down. He cleared the table without a word when they were finished, then went in the living room to watch TV.
She lifted the baking stone from where she’d set it on the stove and carried it to the sink. It bore the outlines where the sweet potatoes had roasted, their shapes like caramelized ghosts.
Missed so much
October 6, 2008“I wish I had met you sooner,” he said. “I missed so much.”
And then he kissed her in a way that reminded her how much she had missed, too.
No power left
October 2, 2008It would be much better if the last word was “No,” or “Out,” or “Done,” or “Goodbye.”
But there is no power left when the last word is,
“Please.”
One year later
September 30, 2008Some friends ask favors. Some friends ask for an ear. Some friends ask for the secret recipe, and some friends take that recipe but forget to ever make the dish.
But some friends ask you to take terrifying steps down a rocky path, encourage you to put words out into the world you might never have thought to leave like breadcrumbs on your way. To that friend, I say thank you, because one year later*, these breadcrumbs remind me how tasty it is to put those words where others can see them.
* Happy anniversary, 100 Proof Stories…
100 Proof 