He read the label smiling to himself ‘ … our cheese is available in loaf and block formats suitable for various applications.’
He turned the cube of cheese in his hands. Weighty! ‘To buy or not to buy?’, that is the question. He loved cheese and he did not have the money to buy the kind he knew is good.
Desperate situations ask for desperate measures.
If he bought this one, then he had money left for pasta and potatoes, and that would ensure food till he got paid.
Come on, any cheese is better than no cheese.
James dropped the unusually looking cube of cheese in his trolley and went on with his shopping. Pasta, potatoes, uuu crackers, no, no, be good, eggs better than crackers. Oh right, eggs!
Walking out in the warm night with his shopping James felt at peace. Yeah, it could have been better, but it could also have been worse. At least he had his big a*s block of cheese!
There were two ways he could get to his place. The long way, following the large street on which cars passed by at all times of day and night, or the short way winding behind old buildings, through a dark alley, across a vegetation ridden park, under a bridge …
James chuckled to himself, it sounded like a bad fairy tale.
A big, round, cheese face moon was brightly lighting up the night sky, a few stars were scattered here and there, barely visible.
It had been such a long day, he needed to take the shortcut!
‘It’ll be grand! What can happen?!’
Famous last words, James thought to himself while setting his inner navigational system towards the short way home.
He passed the well lit town center and then disappeared behind an old stone wall. The wall soon met the back of an old building, which he followed till it turned into a small dark alley.
James knew it to be called Croft Alley, but he had no idea why a dark, pee smelling alley would be linked to crofts, an old thing maybe.
As he was thinking about the agricultural past he was startled when a silhouette almost peeled itself from the dark wall and spoke in a commanding voice.
‘Whatchu got there?’
James froze while the man came closer.
‘I’m hungry. Gimme!’
James looked back, but it was too far for him to turn around, and the deserted lane made his heart shrink.
The man snatched his bags and started to violently go through them. He seemed to be satisfied with everything James had bought except for the block of cheese which he took and threw out.
‘Got money?’
James shook his head indicating no …
‘Figures!’, the man seemed almost disappointed in him. While giving him a disgusted look he turned around and left a stunned James in the middle of the alley. Disbelief pinned him into place.
A loud laughter reached him from somewhere down the street and that made him snap out of it. He picked up his plastic wrapped cube of cheese and walked quickly towards the park.
The park was quiet and terrifying, the hedges were taller than him, huge birds seemed to live in the trees making strange, screeching loud noises.
James walked quickly driven by the determination of taking the cheese home. His block of cheese was all he had and he had to take it home, it was his mission.
‘We will make it! You will see! I will take you there!’, he was not sure if he was saying the words or thinking them.
When he saw the exit gate he felt almost teary eyed.
‘Almost there! Not long now!’, he encouraged his prized cheese.
As soon as he thought it safe James broke into a run holding his cheese tight to his chest. He did not stop until he was breathless in front of his house.
It took James a good amount of time to snap out of the frenzied state he was in. He stood in his locked house, on his favorite couch, holding on to his cheese and only the thought that he needs to put it in the fridge made him get up.
After a restless night James woke up forgetting for one moment the events of the previous evening. But then it all came back and somehow now, in his own home, able to look back on it he did not feel that frazzled.
In the fridge the cube of cheese welcome him like an old combat companion.
‘I told you I will get you home!’, James smiled while taking of part of the plastic wrapping to unveil a yellow, good looking cheese.
He made himself a toastie on some old bread and discovered that the cheese was actually delicious with a sweet, nutty flavor.
‘Yeah I can handle this!’
James nodded to himself.
‘All of it … with some cheese on the side!’
And he giggled at the joke he had made, while finishing his Dutch Industrial Cheese toastie.
Love it! 🧀