Day 6: Write about a person who would buy all of those items in Day 5.
The feeling of letting someone down, or not being good enough. That’s what Tim was feeling most like these days. He’d let Hilary down. She’d constantly badger him to go to the gym or to change his unhealthy lifestyle to a healthier one, but Tim would just continue to stack plates on his protruding belly, using it like a table, saying, “I’ll go tomorrow,” or “I’ll change tomorrow. I promise, I’m sorry.”
Now Tim was really sorry. She’d come by the apartment to pick up the last box of her things: her tiny trinkets and her scent. The apartment no longer lingered with her presences, and Tim was very lonely. He had nobody to blame but himself, he constantly thought. How could he let the best thing in his life slip away so easily?
Desperate for some comfort, Tim went down to the local grocery store, conveniently down the corner from their his apartment. As he searched the aisles, he didn’t know what he needed. Comfort food didn’t seem appealing to him; he’d already eaten a rather hefty lunch. He was sick of pizza since that’s all he’s eaten for the past couple of weeks; loosing your own personal cook is tough on those who don’t.
“What should I get?!” he thought aloud, whispering to himself as he walked up and down the aisles.
Until, there it was: a package of applewood smoked bacon. Man oh man had it been a long time since he’d had a piece of nice crispy bacon! With zero hesitation, Tim threw the package in to the cart.
“What next?” he whispered aloud, again.
Anchovies. Anchovies are somewhat healthy, especially if they’re canned in olive oil. Again, with no hesitation, Tim threw the can in his cart thinking how proud Hilary would be with his choice.
She’d be especially happy with his next choice: auto insurance. She’d always bug him to be insured. “What if you got in an accident?” she’d nag. “How would you afford to pay for the damage out-of-pocket?” That evening, a local insurance company was advertising, at the end of that aisle. Gladly, Tim signed up hoping Hilary happened to be at the exact same grocery store at the exact same time the company’s pen filled out his contact information. Unfortunately, no. She was probably at her yoga class; it was around that time anyway.
Tim looked at the contents in his cart, after trying to get the very chatty insurance agent off of his back, feeling something was missing. And, there it was, the holy grail of jerkies: alligator jerky. On sale and imported from Australia, Tim had always wanted to try it and now was his chance. “There’s too much sodium!” Hilary would say when Tim would slyly try to slip the package in their cart, but who cared about sodium levels when he was the one doing the shopping?
Tim was satisfied with his choices, and made his way to pay for his groceries. The lines were long, it was prime shopping time, as dinner was soon approaching. As he waited in line, he stared down at his cart, pleased with his choices and undeniably excited at the thought of finally having bacon and trying alligator jerky for the first time. But looking at the anchovies, advertised as healthy with the bold “CANNED IN OLIVE OIL!” letters on the can, Tim couldn’t help but here himself say, “I promise, I’m sorry,” to Hilary in his head over and over again.
He looked up from his cart. What am I doing? he thought. Tim got out of line, put his groceries back–sans the car insurance sign up–and headed back to their his apartment.
Instead of taking the elevator, he took the stairs up to their his unit. That wasn’t so bad, he thought as he reached their his floor, the top floor. Maybe I’ll go for a walk tomorrow, or do some sit ups before I go to bed.
Not only did Tim find the foods he loved in that aisle of the grocery store, but he found his ability to live a healthier life. He found his agility, acquisition, and ability to workout. He found his ambition to become healthy.
Today, Tim no longer repeats, “I promise, I’m sorry,” but he looks his slimmer face in the mirror, whispering, “You’ve got this.”
Grace Literate 