PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH
07/07
For lunch today I make a peanut butter sandwich
with cherry preserves. Good protein and carbohydrates.
Quick energy. Creamy peanut butter,
toasted white mountain bread and
Smuckers's cherry preserve. Real cherries. As many as I want.
My seventh summer mother took all four children to camp in Canada.
She washed clothes for our tuition while
father stayed home to work and repaint the house.
I was the middle boy. My sister, the eldest child, was developing breasts.
Wore a heavy jacket all summer long. My older brother was the jock,
my younger the counselor's darling. I was the bed wetter. Punished each morning
with clean-up duty. Hanging the mattress on the line to air.
Breakfast treat was always cherry preserves on toast.
Everybody got the same except younger brother got more and
I got less. All summer long.
Today I am not a bed wetter. Reward myself with as many cherries
on toast as I can eat. When I become a bed wetter again I will still
reward myself with as many cherries as I wish.
As long as I can.
