What's for lunch? (Final piece)
When one is young, the world seems like a much more big and scary place. At the time, if something bad happens to us we believe that nothing could possibly be even worse than what is happening in that moment. I've had this happen to me more times than I would have liked to during my childhood. Though there was this one event that stuck with me up till now and I guess it was because it was so out of character for me. Then again those are the ones that make the best stories.
It happened when I was about 10 years old. It was a normal school day and the first half of the morning went along without anything out of the ordinary; sitting through my first four classes of the day while my mind wandered elsewhere and I anxiously waited for lunchtime. The lunch bell finally rang and I jumped up from my desk and ran out of the classroom to meet up with my friends. We met up outside of the classroom and went together to wait in line at the cafeteria. We finally got to the front of the line and picked up our trays. As I anxiously put up my tray towards the lunch lady my expression quickly changed when I saw that slop of brown mushiness slosh down on my tray. I let out a small gasp under my breath and stared in horror. It was the dreaded sancocho. There was nothing I found grosser than the thought of having to eat that slimy, gooey abomination. I reluctantly took my tray to the table where my friends were at and sat down. I pretty much had a staring contest with the tray full of brown goo. I couldn't help but to think all these crazy scenarios in my head of what would happen if I ate it. Like me taking a bite out of it and toppling over, dead. So just ended up occasionally stirring the sancocho around my tray to make it look like I had eaten a bit, but the only thing I ate was the applesauce and milk.
Another important factor that I should mention was that the school I went to was a Catholic school. Therefore, the law enforcers there were nuns and some of which were kind of scary. Especially the nun that was in charge of the cafeteria and making sure that every kid ate before letting them throw out the leftovers. Her name was Sister Providence, and to every kid there, she was a force to be reckoned with. As the end of lunchtime was nearing, my friends and I got up to make the line to throw our food away. I tried to sneak in with a bunch of other kids so Sister Providence wouldn't see my barely touched tray. But I didn’t do a good job at blending in and Sister Providence pulled me aside.
“You haven’t even touched your food!” she said in a harsh tone.
I looked sheepishly at the floor and mumbled, “I’m not hungry.”
“Do you know how many starving children there are in the world?!”
I felt my face starting to flush as I got more embarrassed by the scene she was causing. I just kept staring at my tray full of gross brown goo.
“Sit back down and eat. You’re not leaving this cafeteria until you’ve eaten it all,” she said, scowling.
I dragged my feet back to the table and stared solemnly back at my friends as they left the cafeteria. I then turned back to my tray and took a deep breath. I dipped the spoon into the sancocho and then gave it a quick lick to see how bad it was and it was just as bad as I had imagined. I placed the spoon down and decided that I was not going to budge and eat something that made me want to puke. Lunchtime passed by, and there I was, sitting alone in the cafeteria with a nun giving me the stink eye. I was starting to feel like I wanted to cry because I wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment but I had to be strong so I held it in for a little longer. Eventually, Sister Providence realized that I was a stubborn young girl and told me to leave but not without reprimanding multiple times.
As I stepped out of the cafeteria I felt so relieved that my nightmare was finally over. All these emotions rushed up on me and I started to cry. After I felt like I had cried enough I wiped my tears away and headed to class, which I was already really late for thanks to my stubborn little act. The lesson learned here, is never accept any sancocho given to you by nuns. It will end up traumatizing you for life. I never touched another plate of sancocho again.
It happened when I was about 10 years old. It was a normal school day and the first half of the morning went along without anything out of the ordinary; sitting through my first four classes of the day while my mind wandered elsewhere and I anxiously waited for lunchtime. The lunch bell finally rang and I jumped up from my desk and ran out of the classroom to meet up with my friends. We met up outside of the classroom and went together to wait in line at the cafeteria. We finally got to the front of the line and picked up our trays. As I anxiously put up my tray towards the lunch lady my expression quickly changed when I saw that slop of brown mushiness slosh down on my tray. I let out a small gasp under my breath and stared in horror. It was the dreaded sancocho. There was nothing I found grosser than the thought of having to eat that slimy, gooey abomination. I reluctantly took my tray to the table where my friends were at and sat down. I pretty much had a staring contest with the tray full of brown goo. I couldn't help but to think all these crazy scenarios in my head of what would happen if I ate it. Like me taking a bite out of it and toppling over, dead. So just ended up occasionally stirring the sancocho around my tray to make it look like I had eaten a bit, but the only thing I ate was the applesauce and milk.
Another important factor that I should mention was that the school I went to was a Catholic school. Therefore, the law enforcers there were nuns and some of which were kind of scary. Especially the nun that was in charge of the cafeteria and making sure that every kid ate before letting them throw out the leftovers. Her name was Sister Providence, and to every kid there, she was a force to be reckoned with. As the end of lunchtime was nearing, my friends and I got up to make the line to throw our food away. I tried to sneak in with a bunch of other kids so Sister Providence wouldn't see my barely touched tray. But I didn’t do a good job at blending in and Sister Providence pulled me aside.
“You haven’t even touched your food!” she said in a harsh tone.
I looked sheepishly at the floor and mumbled, “I’m not hungry.”
“Do you know how many starving children there are in the world?!”
I felt my face starting to flush as I got more embarrassed by the scene she was causing. I just kept staring at my tray full of gross brown goo.
“Sit back down and eat. You’re not leaving this cafeteria until you’ve eaten it all,” she said, scowling.
I dragged my feet back to the table and stared solemnly back at my friends as they left the cafeteria. I then turned back to my tray and took a deep breath. I dipped the spoon into the sancocho and then gave it a quick lick to see how bad it was and it was just as bad as I had imagined. I placed the spoon down and decided that I was not going to budge and eat something that made me want to puke. Lunchtime passed by, and there I was, sitting alone in the cafeteria with a nun giving me the stink eye. I was starting to feel like I wanted to cry because I wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment but I had to be strong so I held it in for a little longer. Eventually, Sister Providence realized that I was a stubborn young girl and told me to leave but not without reprimanding multiple times.
As I stepped out of the cafeteria I felt so relieved that my nightmare was finally over. All these emotions rushed up on me and I started to cry. After I felt like I had cried enough I wiped my tears away and headed to class, which I was already really late for thanks to my stubborn little act. The lesson learned here, is never accept any sancocho given to you by nuns. It will end up traumatizing you for life. I never touched another plate of sancocho again.
What's for lunch?
When one is young, the world seems like a much more big and scary place. At the time, if something bad happens to us we believe that nothing could possibly be even worse than what is happening in that moment. I’ve had this happen to me more times than I would have liked to during my childhood. Though there was this one event that stuck with me up till now and I guess it was because it was so out of character for me. Then again those are probably the ones that make the best stories.
It happened when I was about 10 years old. It was a normal school day and the first half of the morning went along without anything out of the ordinary; sitting through my first four classes of the day while my mind wandered elsewhere and I anxiously waited for lunchtime. The lunch bell finally rang and I jumped up from my desk and ran out of the classroom to meet up with my friends. We met up outside of the classroom and went together to wait in line at the cafeteria. We finally got to the front of the line and picked up our trays. As I anxiously put up my tray towards the lunch lady my expression quickly changed when I saw that slop of brown mushiness slosh down on my tray. I let out a small gasp under my breath and stared in horror. It was the dreaded sancocho. There was nothing I found grosser than the thought of having to eat that slimy, gooey abomination. I reluctantly took my tray to the table where my friends where at and sat down. I pretty much had a staring contest with the tray full of brown goo. I couldn't help but to think all this crazy scenarios in my head of what would happen if I ate it. Like me taking a bite out of it and toppling over, dead. Or another one where I, as soon as I placed the spoon in my mouth, I would start to glow (in that radioactive kind of way) and tentacles would start popping up all over my body. So just ended up occasionally stirring the sancocho around my tray to make it look like I had eaten a bit, but the only thing I ate was the applesauce and milk.
Another important factor that I should mention was that the school I went to was a Catholic school. Therefore, the law enforcers there were nuns and some of which were kind of scary. Especially the nun that was in charge of the cafeteria and making sure that every kid ate before letting them throw out the leftovers. Her name was Sister Providence, and to every kid there, she was a force to be reckoned with. As the end of lunchtime was nearing, my friends and I got up to make the line to throw our food away. I tried to sneak in with a bunch of other kids so Sister Providence wouldn’t see my barely touched tray. But I didn’t do a good job at blending in and Sister Providence pulled me aside.
“You haven’t even touched your food!” she said in a harsh tone.
I looked sheepishly at the floor and mumbled, “I’m not hungry.”
“Do you know how many starving children there are in the world?!”
I felt my face starting to flush as I got more embarrassed by the scene she was causing. I just kept staring at my tray full of gross brown goo.
“Sit back down and eat. You’re not leaving this cafeteria until you’ve eaten it all,” she said, scowling.
I dragged my feet back to the table and stared solemnly back at my friends as they left the cafeteria. I then turned back to my tray and took a deep breath. I dipped the spoon into the sancocho and then gave it a quick lick to see how bad it was and it was just as bad as I had imagined. I placed the spoon down and decided that I was not going to budge and eat something that made me want to puke. Lunchtime passed by, and there I was, sitting alone in the cafeteria with a nun giving me the stink eye. I was starting to feel like I wanted to cry because I wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment but I had to be strong so I held it in for a little longer. Eventually, Sister Providence realized that I was a stubborn young girl and told me to leave but not without reprimanding multiple times.
As I stepped out of the cafeteria I felt so relieved that my nightmare was finally over. All these emotions rushed up on me and I started to cry. After I felt like I had cried enough I whipped my tears away and headed to class, which I was already really late for thanks to my stubborn little act. The lesson learned here, is never accept any sancocho given to you by nuns. It will end up traumatizing you for life. I never touched another plate of sancocho again.
It happened when I was about 10 years old. It was a normal school day and the first half of the morning went along without anything out of the ordinary; sitting through my first four classes of the day while my mind wandered elsewhere and I anxiously waited for lunchtime. The lunch bell finally rang and I jumped up from my desk and ran out of the classroom to meet up with my friends. We met up outside of the classroom and went together to wait in line at the cafeteria. We finally got to the front of the line and picked up our trays. As I anxiously put up my tray towards the lunch lady my expression quickly changed when I saw that slop of brown mushiness slosh down on my tray. I let out a small gasp under my breath and stared in horror. It was the dreaded sancocho. There was nothing I found grosser than the thought of having to eat that slimy, gooey abomination. I reluctantly took my tray to the table where my friends where at and sat down. I pretty much had a staring contest with the tray full of brown goo. I couldn't help but to think all this crazy scenarios in my head of what would happen if I ate it. Like me taking a bite out of it and toppling over, dead. Or another one where I, as soon as I placed the spoon in my mouth, I would start to glow (in that radioactive kind of way) and tentacles would start popping up all over my body. So just ended up occasionally stirring the sancocho around my tray to make it look like I had eaten a bit, but the only thing I ate was the applesauce and milk.
Another important factor that I should mention was that the school I went to was a Catholic school. Therefore, the law enforcers there were nuns and some of which were kind of scary. Especially the nun that was in charge of the cafeteria and making sure that every kid ate before letting them throw out the leftovers. Her name was Sister Providence, and to every kid there, she was a force to be reckoned with. As the end of lunchtime was nearing, my friends and I got up to make the line to throw our food away. I tried to sneak in with a bunch of other kids so Sister Providence wouldn’t see my barely touched tray. But I didn’t do a good job at blending in and Sister Providence pulled me aside.
“You haven’t even touched your food!” she said in a harsh tone.
I looked sheepishly at the floor and mumbled, “I’m not hungry.”
“Do you know how many starving children there are in the world?!”
I felt my face starting to flush as I got more embarrassed by the scene she was causing. I just kept staring at my tray full of gross brown goo.
“Sit back down and eat. You’re not leaving this cafeteria until you’ve eaten it all,” she said, scowling.
I dragged my feet back to the table and stared solemnly back at my friends as they left the cafeteria. I then turned back to my tray and took a deep breath. I dipped the spoon into the sancocho and then gave it a quick lick to see how bad it was and it was just as bad as I had imagined. I placed the spoon down and decided that I was not going to budge and eat something that made me want to puke. Lunchtime passed by, and there I was, sitting alone in the cafeteria with a nun giving me the stink eye. I was starting to feel like I wanted to cry because I wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment but I had to be strong so I held it in for a little longer. Eventually, Sister Providence realized that I was a stubborn young girl and told me to leave but not without reprimanding multiple times.
As I stepped out of the cafeteria I felt so relieved that my nightmare was finally over. All these emotions rushed up on me and I started to cry. After I felt like I had cried enough I whipped my tears away and headed to class, which I was already really late for thanks to my stubborn little act. The lesson learned here, is never accept any sancocho given to you by nuns. It will end up traumatizing you for life. I never touched another plate of sancocho again.