The Taste of Innocence

185 3 0
                                    

She sits in the dining room,

On her break,

Silently reminiscing

As she sits there sipping

A vanilla milkshake.

But she's not all there.

You can't see what she sees

With those distant blue eyes,

Sucking on the blue straw

And stirring the blue spoon.

She's having what they call

a flashback

Triggered by her senses.

Vanilla milkshake,

partway melted,

lukewarm,

That smooth and creamy flavor

On a dusty evening in the summertime

Daddy took us on a drive

just to go somewhere

And stopped at McDonald's for a treat.

Back then, Diana's favorite flavor

Wasn't vanilla--it was strawberry

Little sister thought she had to get

Whatever Diana got.

Silly Bethany

Daddy told her different,

and instead of strawberry,

she chose vanilla.

But of course,

being sisters and all,

They traded sips of shake

lumpy ice cream

clogging the straw,

partway melted,

And Diana decided that maybe

Just maybe,

She liked vanilla better.

From then on,

her favorite flavor was vanilla.

Of course, now time has gone by,

And Bethany gets chocolate now,

Not vanilla.

She doesn't try to be like Diana anymore;

She's independent now,

While Diana is the one left behind.

Still, Diana sticks by her favorite,

the one her little sister chose

Even though her little sister has moved on,

and they're no longer the best of friends,

the taste of innocence

Still lingers in that partway melted,

lukewarm,

vanilla milkshake.

The Art of ConfusionWhere stories live. Discover now