You Ruined My Breakfast, But Inspired This Story
Photo Credit: Juan Pablo Mascanfroni
God, in His wisdom, made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why. — Ogden Nash
There you sat, with two of your friends, on the rim of my cup. I shooed you away but as your buddies left, you nosedived into my drink.
I will admit that there was a time when I would have simply fished you out and continued drinking. But that was many decades ago and now that I’m older—and, I hope—wiser, I merely sighed, took my cup to the kitchen, and poured you down the drain.
Such a waste: the coffee, the hot cocoa powder, the cinnamon, the creamer—all of it wasted. Not to mention the time lost forever.
There are things I do that I know I shouldn’t, things that are bad for my health. I consume far too many sweets. I smoke cigarettes. I don’t get enough exercise.
But I draw the line at drinking fly germs. That’s why I reheated the water to boiling before using it to wash my cup, and why I used more of the same boiling water to brew a fresh cup of hot cocoa.
I’m sorry you had to lose your life, but I am sorrier still that you ruined my morning routine.
On the other hand, I did get a story out of it.
