And After That, I Want Everything

I drank a large bottle of beer with my sushi. They were salmon rolls with masago; fish roe; tiny, bright orange beads that burst when you bite into them. The kind of food that the very concept of horrifies you as a child but then there you are, you're an adult and there you are, loving it, considering it a treat and a delicacy. We watched an action movie as we ate. In between chopstick shovellings there were explosions and laughs and a sense that life is incredible if you find just the right combinations of it. When the movie was finished it was time for coffee so I prepared it, pouring a cup from the pot already made, stirring in artificial sweetener and heating it in the microwave. As I sat back on the couch, hot cup in hand, I felt something between my teeth. I dislodged it with my tongue. It was misago- one, final bead of it had been my passenger. This was an egg. A fish had pushed it out, or more accurrately had it massaged out by a factory worker, and now it had been in my mouth for the better part of three hours, just sitting there, stuck between molars. Life. In all its various combinations, disgusting and otherwise, there for us to pop between our teeth. It still tasted good. I smiled and washed it down with the coffee.