Food or Aspirin?
I need one to live, the other to want to live.
I keep thinking of that picture from Buchenwald. They wouldn’t be thinking of aspirin. The question would be whether they could think of food any more at all.
I’m thinking these thoughts, making a big deal out of how I decided to spend my last dollar-fifty. For a dollar, I could walk to Las Tablas where a street vendor I know sells a bag of vegetables — peppers, onions and tomatoes — for one dollar. But I burn a lot of calories walking there. Or — down the street from there is where I buy aspirin. The last time, a week ago, I spent three dollars on aspirin. Those tablets will have to last a few more days.
I chose food. Instead of walking as far as Las Tablas, I paid more for some vegetables at a nearby market. For a dollar-fifty they counted out a few chili peppers, a couple of tomatoes, and one onion. I said, “okay,” and the dear woman threw in a few more onions. Yay!
I put them in the fridge for now, except for the onions. There’s a cat that comes into my house and eats the tomatoes. I’ve tried to hurt or kill that cat but I think it just gets hungrier. I’ve invented a weapon that uses a curtain rod . . . well, the idea is mostly in my head. (I say to you cat lovers.)
(Even if it worked, I’d use the firearm to hunt chickens.) Mmm. Chicken.
I actually have been food insecure. But I call it starvation — screw the UN and its euphemisms. Starvation saps your energy and screws up your ability to think straight. It has been a humbling experience.
Thank you for reading.
Fred
