Anna Booraem

Taking Stock

First, we argued about it in the grocery store. Gregor insisted that Alpha and Jenny were NOT vegan, paleo, or gluten free. But I knew, I told him, I knew they were at least one if not all three of those things.

We didn’t speak to each other for the next twenty minutes. At checkout we barely looked at each other as we dumped our purchases on the conveyor belt. Of course, he paid. Gregor always pays.

At home, we lay all the ingredients out on the kitchen table. It seemed like a puzzle with mixed up pieces - miso, bratwurst, cilantro, pearl barley, chili seasoning, beef broth, frozen peas, edamame, coconut milk, and a big can of stewed tomatoes. The kind with basil.

We fought again.

Gregor stormed into the living room and disappeared into his online role-playing game.

I sat at the table and drank a beer. I thought about where I’d live if I left him. I thought about our cat, Mr. Angel Face. I thought about Alpha and Jenny and if it really was possible to be vegan AND paleo AND gluten free. I thought about how our diets have evolved because of privilege or intelligence or conscientiousness or what the fuck I don’t even know. I couldn’t decide if it was good or bad to be this conscious, this picky, this healthy; if it was better for the world or worse.

I sat there for an hour, I guess. Mr. Angel Face joined me for a time. It got dark because it gets dark early now. And the kitchen got cold.

Finally, I lit the candle on the table and took a breath. I pulled out the big orange Le Creuset my dad left me and just started throwing everything in it. Gregor came in after a while and turned on the light and turned up the heat. He put on some music, pop songs from the eighties that he knows I love, and we danced and sang and even kissed as I threw in the last stem of cilantro.

It was the worst soup anyone had ever tasted, but it didn’t even matter. We’d made it through another day. We were still dancing and singing and kissing, and every time that feels like a miracle.

Alpha and Jenny, for what it’s worth, are doing Keto.

Anna Booraem:  I am a librarian by day, a voracious reader by night, and a writer in flashes. I appreciate apocalyptic fiction, great dialogue, and any writing that explores how it feels to be human. My interests include celebrity and pop culture, spending time in nature, thinking about fashion and creative projects, and eating as much queso as seems appropriate for a woman my age.