At first it was a bright shiny pack of gum and I thought
how wonderful! I wanted to try each
flavor and took my time unwrapping each stick.
With excitement and anticipation I opened my mouth welcoming each new delight
not spitting out the old.
Eventually I had a huge wad of gum in my mouth that, as time
went on, became harder and harder to chew.
Then the taste that initially was so special started to fade away until
I grew to dislike the taste of the mass in my mouth.
I could no longer talk around all of the sticks of gum in my
mouth so I opened wide and pulled the lump out.
My jaw hurt but having the space back in my mouth was glorious. I rested.
I flicked the ball of goo into the trash can but some of it
stuck to my fingers. I worked hard to
get it off and when I swiped at the sweat on my forehead some of it stuck to my
bangs.
I rubbed and rubbed and worked at the gum on my fingertips
until each little fragment was in the trash.
I looked in the mirror searching out the last bits stuck in my hair. With a gob of peanut butter I worked on
loosing the final speck of gum. When it
finally detached from me, holding it in my fingers I stared at it remembering
how good it tasted when I first popped it in my mouth and how glad I now was to
finally be rid of it.
I flicked that in the garbage, too, and turned on the kitchen faucet
to wash my hands of you.
