“The greatest wealth is health.” Virgil
Watercolor/Ink on paper. Copyright 2012 Totsymae
As a participant in Occupy Blogosphere to share/shed positive light, I bring you a short story excerpt from my collection-in-progress.
“You just can’t throw out good food, Kiya.” Selma followed her daughter from the fridge to the garbage can, watching her hard-earned dollars from the insurance company, where she put up with more than her share of shit, get dumped by this child who grew up on cow meat and fatback in her collards. Now, it was all about wheat grass, tofu and that other imitation food that was shaking in her love-and-peace-to-the-green world.
“Look, Jonas and I will move you to our place, if that’s what it takes to get you on board with eating healthy, Ma. Okay? I had a real good sense something wasn’t right yesterday. I just felt it.” Kiya sucked her breath in hard and her little nose ring jiggled , making the diamond stud more apparent when her nostrils flared up. Child had her daddy’s nose for sure but she was so pretty, it looked far better on her. Selma always had thought it looked so big and out of place on Clayton’s face. Maybe it was that he was a light-colored man and she thought nature should have shaped it thinner.
“That there rice could at least be put to good use down at the shelter.” Selma went to grabbing at the bag but Kiya moved in one swift motion to keep Selma out of arm’s reach. She dug her nails into the plastic and poured the little white grains in the garbage, shaking her head, tsking and exhaling in a way that made Selma feel child-like.
“This is an enriched product and we won’t be contributing to a false sense of healthy eating to anybody with these fake foods.” Kiya let the bag fall from her fingers and went back to the cabinet she had been raiding.
“Wait just a damn minute. You’ve gone too far-.”
“No, Mother Dear, you have.” She tossed out all of the canned goods and seemed satisfied at seeing packages of dried beans, two boxes of organic raisins and a roll of plastic wrap in the near empty space. “And you know what? I wouldn’t mind you coming to stay with Jonas, the kids and me. Having children around keeps you young.” She started for the pantry.
“Like hell, they do.”
To read the beginning of “Selma Wrapped in Blue,” visit the Excerpts link.
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To learn more about foods for cardiovascular health, read 25 Heart-Healthy Foods. Another great read is Dr. Norman Walker’s Fresh Vegetables and Fruit Juices. This book is also packed with various cures for what ails you.
I'm an artist who's writing,mothering, blogging and doing a few other things under the sun. I buy toilet paper 99.9% of every trip I make to the grocery store. I'm a people watcher, so I know you're here but drop me a line anyway.
Who does she think she is throwing other people’s stuff into the garbage? Mama needs to throw her daughter’s attitude into the garbage.
Whatchu talkin’ bout, Willis?
Good morning Tots! Beautiful story. I so want to get into Selma’s head! Parts of her remind me of my own mother, especially the literary portrait that you painted of her in the story beginning. Selma literally hitting her bottom on the ground, for me, represented a more figurative fear of mine – that my mother’s health would give out on her due to her failure to take better care of herself. Ah…such are the joys of us getting older and tr delicate mother-daughter dance.
Thanks Tots! Keep on writing, I’ll keep on reading!
Hello. Glad you enjoyed the story.
All of us want the best for our parents, as they want for us. That “delicate mother-daughter” dance describes where these two are very well.
Much appreciation for your support.
This is great, Totsy — I really feel like I know these people (especially after reading the part on the Excerpts page).
Thank you, Laura, and for reading the first excerpt. It explains Kiya’s actions.
This should be a wild read! I can’t wait to buy the book.
Thank you. Selma struggles in some other areas too.
I’m getting nervous with all this throwing stuff in the garbage. Food is too hard to come by these days!
If only Selma used moderation as you do so well, Ms Val.
Wonderful little piece here, two characters we can empathize with. Selma upset at her loss of power with her daughter and seeing all her comfort food go bye-bye; Kiya. who seems strong and self-confident, worried that she won’t have her mom around due to her diet.
Thank you.
Funny how the roles change. Mom want their little ones to eat right and when those kids get older, they want parents to eat well. Not always an easy thing to change after so many years.
I hate to waste food, but some of the stuff that passes for food really is toxic. I don’t mind throwing away poison. Great story, Totsy. I see where Mama’s coming from…
Mama’s not in a good place, so Daughter means well.
My grandmother was born in Arkansas. She lived till the ripe old age of 95 and ate fried food most days of her life. She was a skinny old woman and she worked hard all her life. She quit drinking when she turned 80, and she got off the cigarettes when she was 70.
Eating healthy is fine and good. In California, we have access to some of the best fruits and vegetables in the world. I buy everything organic because I can.
Before my Mom died, I had tried to improve her diet. A nice broiled salmon steak? Naw, she wouldn’t eat it. She liked her fish fried; she liked her steak and her veggies “well done”. I’d hate to have somebody trying to mess with my food because I was old!
Food was so different then than it is now. Everything is so artificial. Your grandmother didn’t have to think about organic foods because much of it was just that years ago. And she didn’t have a pay an arm and leg for it.
Kiya isn’t getting rid of the food because her mom’s old, which she isn’t really (early 50s). She does it because her mother has heart disease.
To eat or toss? That is the question.
Bad habits are so hard to break.
This is gonna be YOU, Tots! No, these kinds of children can make you ancient in about one second flat! That young woman did not have to eat the “unhealthy” but it would have kept somebody else from going to bed hungry, right? Wonderful story line here. I want to read the whole thing now!
Not so, not me. Well, I’m not that bad.
This story is done but I have others to complete.
I feel like I’ve been there as my daughters have revised their eating habits, and I always thought I did a pretty good job of preparing healthy!
It’s a headache that the standards for what to eat and what not to eat keeps changing.
Ahh. I loved this story. It’s hard to eat well, especially when we’re busy, but we need to do it. My husband and I were real good about it there for a while, buying organic and avoiding processed foods. We’ve fallen off the wagon lately, though. Hopefully, we can get our lives together and get back on. We’re not getting any younger, and our health won’t take care of itself. By the way, I’ve tagged you in a fun little bloggy game. Check it out: http://su.pr/1oPVPf
Thank you.
I’ll check out the link.
Totsymae – you’ve got it. You do! You know the message and you know how to put it together.
Many thanks…I envision the numbers will keep growing. No explosion YET!
Just gotta keep sneakin’ the borin’, ol’ positive in…just like veggies to kidlets!
Well, I’m glad to hear it.
Yeah, veggies can be a bore. I’m slowly getting used to cauliflower. Still don’t know what they’re good for.
I like how you can read this on various levels, eg, about good eating per se, and then about the “delicate mother-daughter dance” your other commenter noted (great phrase). When you read it from the latter context, the food stands in for what’s really happening between them. I’ve had different eating issues to handle with my mother recently. Since my father passed away about 18 months ago she has had long stretches in which she eats very little, or say, just chocolate, because “she can’t be bothered”. And the same issues come up about what Jerry Seinfeld called “the hand” (as in “who’s got the upper …?”)
You’ve given me even more to go on. That dance is almost always characterized by some element of a power play/struggle/tension! See what you started, Tots! That’s some good writing right “thurr”.
Thanks for the confirmation, solidgoldcreativity.
Narelle (Solid Gold) has a tendency to stretch one’s thinking.
Yes, I see. Have to be very careful because as another comment related something about dignity and independence.
wow!
Oh no! Selma raised a Food Police Agent. It is hard to balance Mom’s need for independence and dignity with daughter’s fear of loosing mom to illness. Both are out of control in different directions. Great writing, Totsy. Oh, and I love the carrots…yum!
Yes, she did. And you’re right about them being out of control.
Thank you.
I did the same thing. With myself!
Didn’t work. Was way too drastic. Went right back to the not-so-healthy foods!