A story of peas

Gerald looked blankly at his peas.  The color so benignly green that he couldn't exactly call them anything but average.  And honestly as peas went, those were the worst kind.  Not good enough that you could talk exuberantly about them, not bad enough that you could complain.  They just sat there, lightly salted, and completely unimportant.

Gerald was on a dinner date with a woman he met using a smart phone app, who at first seemed pleasant, educated and of reasonable health, but talked about what everyone else seemed to be talking about.  The sports teams, the politicians, the weather, and whatever television show was popular at the time. 

They had agreed on an French restaurant whose red curtains, decorated chandeliers and lanterns made it feel as though a customer were being transported to theme's of a world long past.  As though they were out of place in time.

There sure as shit wasn't going to be a discussion about pea's and Gerald found the thought dissappointing.

"So what do you do, exactly?" 

"I tell people what they want to hear"

"If that were true, then you would have replied 'Doctor'" She said with a grin

Gerald moved the pea's around.

"You don't want me to say Doctor"

"Oh really?"

"No, you'd be intimidated if I had said I was a Doctor.  You think you want to meet a doctor, but when push comes to shove meeting those people would cause stress.  You'd become tense, and potentially drink and eat at a much faster pace than you'd initially do if you weren't. 

"Well I hardly think that I wanted to hear all of that."

"Of course.  There are limits.  Don't worry about it.  Did you try the peas?"

The woman took a bite with a look that looked of confusion and contentment.  He was after all right.  She had never felt comfortable with those she perceived as beyond her own social status.  She always felt like she wanted to belong, but never could.


"Hey, Did you see the championship match at all?"

She had and it made her feel surprisingly at ease.  It was a simple party she had been to.  She talked about the food she ate, the drinks, the games, the one joke that was told that had the party laughing as though nothing that funny had happened in years. 

Gerald rolled the peas around.

"Let me ask you something dear, do you know why we like to talk about these memories?  These thing's?  It's because we think we KNOW what's happened to ourselves.  We understand at the very least our own reality.  And that reality, we want to think is unique.  That it's exciting to be who we are, or at the very least it's enjoyable."

"Are you saying that it isn't?"

"What did you think of your peas?"

She stared blankly at him.

Gerald sighed, and ate his peas.