Thirty-year-old Lester ate his garden peas slowly. He suspected his mom was up to something when she invited him over for dinner and brought out the peas first thing. They were his favorite food. He liked the feel of the tiny green spheres popping open in his mouth. He enjoyed the release of the juice and the experience of ripping up the remaining vegetable flesh between his teeth. He savored every textural sensation related to eating, especially since he had been born with a genetic condition that left him unable to taste anything. His mother smiled encouragingly as he filled his plate with more peas. He noticed that she glanced over to the desk where several folded papers had been pressed open. Lester could just make out the lines of delicate cursive writing from where he was sitting. He knew it was familiar, but couldn’t quite place it. Lester decided to handle things one at a time. He took pleasure in eating his peas while he could, though each pop on his tongue brought him closer to a memory – a dusty box buried when he was a kid and a secret he had promised never to share.
NOTE: The brief narrative above was brought to you by TZ Books and The Bite-Size Fiction Project, created by Dave Baldwin and Sheila Lee Brown (this particular one is a Sheila-story). The results of this project are bite-size story morsels for short attention spans. These tidbits are sometimes fun, sometimes weird…but always short!