Consumed

I felt the greatest craving for a specific yet general species of fruit today. It is true that this fruit is especially hard on the human body. In times of it’s greatest ecstasy it is working a dark splinter of future calamity in one’s own being. It is said that some of this certain variety can cause death. What variety causes death is quite unsure. It is only known that the more concentrated varieties bring the greatest satisfaction with the greatest risk. It is strange that the further I go up the strain of varieties that I find them to be of the most beautiful color and the most complex in texture, yet somehow lacking in flavor.

I have seen this as an anomaly.

I have even taken the more sickly looking varieties hoping to discover some correlation between greater apparent disease and better overall flavor. This has not proved to be the case however. Most of them all taste the same. Still it feels good to go against the conventional wisdom. I have a reputation for choosing the most unsightly of the most deadly. This makes me a strange rebel. But there is also the initial cost that comes to mind. If we are all courting possible death, I am getting the better deal. There are some that follow in my footsteps. I have heard rumors that some believe I have found a way to the ecstasy afforded by the deadly fruits without the inherent risk. They have come up with the idea that I have staved off some consequences of the ugliness by embracing ugliness in advance. I must say that I would be tempted to believe them, if it wasn’t for the fact that I have found little evidence to the contrary. I haven’t found any “newness” in ugliness. It is all the same. I have tried both.

Today I am craving it all again. I want to try the hybrid. I will pick the most unsightly again out of habit. The runt of the strain is likely to be the closest to what I have known before. I am confident that it will be a step up, without the higher possibilities for fatality.

There is a market that I know of. You can always find a few varieties there. I know the secret way to the market. Most people don’t go there. They find some variety in the regular market. Those have additives and wax to make them more appealing. I don’t need all the marketing. I’m sold already. I’m not playing any games with myself. I know the risks, but I also believe that the risks are part of the reward. This fruit is deadly, but that is the adventure. I go further; I will be rewarded.

There is always the more cavalier of the marketers. He guarantees nothing. He only guarantees that the fruit will satisfy in some new way. He doesn’t promise paradise, only another view or understanding of it. One has to be somewhat careful of these vendors. They sell fruits that can become instantly addictive. It is in no time you find yourself consuming large amounts of God knows what while slowly starving to death.

Somehow I can’t resist the notion of getting something new before anyone else. Hell, if it really is something amazing I will help the guy market it.

I buy what I can afford. Strangely the more expensive varieties look to be the same as what I’m buying. I know that this must be a false assumption. One day I will have enough to buy the good stuff. It will be better in spite of its apparent sameness. Still I am content in what I have. The more expensive may just be marketing. I know that I have something they will never buy. I might discover something they have missed in all their personal glory.

I grip the bag tightly as I go home. There is that ever persistent feeling in my inner being that this might be the last trip to the market. Inside this bag may be the last fruit I eat. I know that there is the possibility that I might die tonight. That is always a risk that one must take. No one looks at each other in the market place. How foolish one would look buying his own death. We even pretend at times as if this was just a normal farmer’s market. “Well, after all, a man has got to eat after all”. We are all just shopping for fruit. What did you say? Strange fruit? Nonsense. It is only strange in our knowledge of it. We are fortunate to know of this market when others aren’t. The conversation is brief and dishonest. We buy our wares and hurry on our way. We are all confident in our equal conviction. No will squeal you out. You are here, I am here; there is brotherhood in shared guilt.

My bag contains some safe standbys that have long ago gone bland. I continue to eat the safe disapointment of their substance. Though it may seem strange I still expect the sweetness that their first tasting promised even now. Maybe I will stop with this new variety. Somehow I feel I won’t be satisfied. Still it is worth the risk.