I was in college. I went over to the off-campus dorm where R was living, but it was a little early, so I hung out on the porch, waiting for the ladies inside to get up and start having breakfast. I saw this can of Diet Pepsi in the porch fridge, so I helped myself to it, popping the top and peeling back the tab. It didn’t occur to me that the pop-top was the old, ring-and-tongue pop-top and therefore protecting the contents of a very old can of soda. I took two swallows and almost threw up. What was this old can of soda doing in the fridge?
There was some stirring inside, so I knocked on the door and was let in by one of the ladies. Everyone there knew me, so it wasn’t weird that I’d come by for breakfast.
Actually, I’d come to bring breakfast for R. I had created in my kitchen a kind of blended granola breakfast — homemade granola put in a blender, then placed into a mug with cold milk. It was delicious, and I knew R would like it. So I had this plastic zippered bag filled with my special granola, I used the dorm kitchen’s blender, and prepared two mugs of the breakfast and took them into the dining room. There was a very large, round table there, with ten to twelve girls sitting about it in various stages of wakefulness. R seemed not to notice my presence, or she was ignoring me. I put my two mugs on the table in front of me and started eating from one.
One of R’s housemates asked me what was in the mug, so I showed her, and she was really interested in it. “May I try some?” she asked. I pointed to the mug I’d intended for R. This other girl just loved it. In fact, she loved it a bit too much — I mean, it was good, but it wasn’t that good. She kept complimenting my skills and creativity, and asked if I could show her how to make it. I was still trying to get R’s attention, but when the girl sitting next to me (a very pretty woman with wavy black hair and thin fingers) touched my hand and asked if I’d make her another mug, I suddenly found myself distracted.
We went into the kitchen, where I showed her how I blended the granola in the blender, and then took chairs in the kitchen and enjoyed the rest of our breakfast in there.
