BE SPECIAL - BE YOURSELF 1

Bojé’s Magic Powder

Sam wanted to disappear when Toni was handing out the invitations to her party. She felt different from everyone.During the previous year, she had been invited to some of the parties, but she was tired of trying to fit in. The girls would dance in slow motion, spend all their time talking about food and diets and continue to eat ‘ordered’ food like ice creams, sweets and cakes. At those parties, she found herself standing next to them, but never taking part. They were all jealous of her.

The boys were always trying to get her attention and when they asked how she managed to stay in such great shape, she could never find the words to tell them that she really didn’t have a choice. If she explained,they wouldn’t understand what she meant when she said ‘healthy food’. Every day, in the cafeteria, the girls discussed her figure. When they were trying to find the solution to the problem of the 22n'dcentury, she felt lonely.

The girls hated her for looking so good. When they ate ‘ordered’ masterpieces, she ate fruit. When they drank beer, cocktails and colorful juices, she drank water.

Toni approached her. Toni was skinny but popular. She saw Sam as a pretty and full girl amongst a bunch of ‘sticks’.No wonder Sean had a crush on her. She’d promised him she would invite Sam and she intended to keep her promise.

She stood next to Sam and handed her the invitation.“Friday, the 8'th of July 2112,” Sam read and smiled awkwardly, “Thank you.”“I hope you can come,” said Toni.

She really wanted her to come, but she knew Sam wouldn’t think so.Sam smiled. It had been a while since she had last been invited to a party and she really wanted to go. She thought about her mom, who didn’t want her to feel different and her dad telling her: “Some opportunities come only once in alifetime.”

“Thank you,” she said again and left the classroom.

Toni looked after her jealously. Some people, like Sam Reeve, didn’t need to do anything to look great, while others needed to be on a diet all their lives just to gain a few kilos.

It was so unfair!

At dinnertime, Toni talked about her party.

“What did Sam say? Is she coming?” asked her brotherSean.

“I told her I would be happy to see her, but she smiled as if she didn’t believe me. The girls hate her.”

“Thanks for inviting her, sis,” said Sean. “Why do they hate her? She looks great.”

“Because of you and boys like you,” said Toni.

“They’re all jealous. At last, there is one normal girl in a class full of ‘sticks’,” Sean teased her.

Toni was upset and looked at her mom for support.“Well, you know he’s right. You know they all hate her because she looks like a model,” said Toni’s mom.

Toni’s mom was a tall, skinny woman.

The ‘stick-people’ problem had bothered her since she was young. She had done her doctorate on the influence Pierre Bojé had on society in the last one hundred years.

“Did you know that, a hundred years ago, girls like Sam were considered less attractive? Back then, all the women wanted to be skinny and did everything to lose one or two kilos,” she heard herself say for the millionth time.

“You’ve told me this already, Mom, but I don’t think Iunderstand! She does have the perfect body, and yes, I am jealous. Sean isn’t the only one who thinks she looks great.I don’t know how people a hundred years ago couldn’t see it.”

“A hundred years ago, people who weighed a lot died earlier. They had many diseases that were associated with being overweight: heart attacks, depression and even breathing problems. It was a time when people got bigger and bigger. The average weight actually increased over the years. If at a certain age it was common for a girl to weigh50 kilos, then years later it was OK to weigh 55 kilos at that age. Slowly, that number went up, until Bojé invented his Magic Powder.”

Toni’s mom loved talking about Bojé. She had dedicated seven years of research to his work.

“Why they thought he deserved the Nobel Prize for his outrageous invention I could never understand,” said Toni’s dad.

He was licking his lips after eating a big and beautiful cake.

Toni looked at him enjoying his cake. She wondered if he really meant it or if he was just joking.

“Fifty years after he won the prize,” continued her mom,“There was a big petition to take it away from him. He was very old, sick and lonely. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. People say that after his granddaughter died from cardiacarrest because she was so underweight, he left his work and retreated to the mountains to be there all by himself. No one ever managed to interview him about his invention.”

“I really don’t see the connection between Bojé’s invention and the astonishing beauty of Sam Reeve,” said Sean.

He preferred talking about girls, especially the kind with boobs.Real ones, without implants.

His mom ignored him. She saw the opportunity to teach them both a good lesson and she didn’t want to miss it.

“Bojé invented his Magic Powder in 2005 after one of his sisters died from a heart attack. She was very young, only25 years old, and weighed 180 kilos.”

“180 kilos is like four people!” Sean said.

“Not exactly,” his mom said.

“A hundred years ago, it was like two and a half people. People were not as skinny as weare today. Bojé’s Magic Powder drastically changed all this.”

“What is so special about his Magic Powder?” asked Toni.Her mom had already explained this many times before, but this time, it seemed they were ready to listen.

“Bojé managed to mix powders that changed the chemical composition of food. He created a tasteless powder that neutralized the substances that caused weight gain. The brilliant part of his invention was that it had a cumulative effect. The more you use it, the more weight you lose.”

Toni tried to imagine life a hundred years before. It was hard for her to imagine a time when people thought differently. It was sickening. Her society was encouraging people to gain weight because of the many problems caused by weight loss.

But the more they ate, the more they lost weight. Toni thought it was a very sick invention. No doubt,life would have been different without it.

“It’s terrible. If you are saying that, a hundred years ago,people suffered from being overweight, then Bojé probably thought he was doing a wonderful thing,” said Toni.

She thought she understood why he went to the mountains. He was looking for a cure for the weight problem that had killed his sister, but with his invention, he killed his granddaughter.

Sean was worried. He was skinny, but never thought about the health issues associated with being thin.

“In what kinds of food do we have Bojé’s powder?” he asked, looking worried.

His mom looked at him surprised. “Everything we order has Bojé’s powder in it. 80% of our food contains MP and it’s only 80% for us, because we are a healthy family.”

Sean looked at the big Pattie with the cream he had on his plate. He had never asked himself about the contents of his beautiful food, how it was made or whether it was healthy.Mom had always taken care of the orders. He had never bothered to think about it.

“Why does all our food contain the Magic Powder if everyone knows it’s dangerous?” asked Sean.

“When the powder first came out on the market, people were thrilled. For ten years, there was a huge progress in the global state of health. At that stage, some organizations already started protesting against it. They had big protests and many health organizations predicted this was what would happen, but the ‘little man on the street’ was stronger.Products that contained the powder sold much better than ‘No MP’ products. Those slowly disappeared from the market.”

“Couldn’t anyone prohibit its use? You know,organizations like the ones that prohibit plastic in food,”asked Sean.

“Even today, there are organizations performing this role,but they disagree that it isn’t healthy. The powder itself is harmless. Some say that everything you over-consume is unhealthy. They say that nothing is harmful if you use it in the right amount. I have to say I agree with them. Did youknow that many years ago, health organizations claimed that MSG and food colors were hazardous to our health, but still they were never banned, and people still bought them foryears? MP today is just like MSG was a hundred years ago.”

“Then how do you explain people like Sam? Doesn’t it affect her, too?” Toni wondered what Sam’s secret was.

In her school cafeteria, they were fortunate to have beautiful works of art for food. Most of all, Toni loved the ‘Blue Car’.It came in three sweetness levels, and she always orderedthe highest.

Sam usually sat in the corner and ate strangely shaped food. She called it fruit and had to peel it before she ate it.

“Our genetic code determines whether we have a tendency to be skinny or not. But the more MP you eat, the tastier it is and the more you want to eat it. Your body is actually burning fat, so you don’t have enough fat in your body,” her mom explained.

“Did you know that boobs are made of fat? I think Sam Reeve has some great-looking fat,” marvelled Sean.

“He’s right. At a certain period in history, girls had breast reductions,” his mom pointed out.

“What a waste, to destroy the prettiest thing a girl has,”said Sean.

“I don’t see a way out of this,” said Toni.

For years, she’d dieted. Every few months, she would try a new diet,checking the computer every day to see if she’d gained a few hundred grams.

“You can always lower the MP level in your food,” suggested Toni’s dad.

“How can we do that if we don’t even know what we have in the food we eat?” asked Sean.

“First, we can find out. A long time ago, everything people ate had the contents written on the package. It’s hard to believe today, but people actually went to special storage places and picked the products from shelves, one by one.They could look at the back of the product to see the contents. Today, we don’t even know what our food is made of, unless we specifically ask for it. By the way, people stopped asking for the ingredient list because the ordering center charged them for it,” said Toni’s dad.

“A long time ago, people made their own food, too,” addedToni’s mom.

Toni didn’t quite understand what she meant by “made their own food.” Ever since she could remember, they had always ordered food. It always came nicely packed and when she opened it, it was just the right temperature.

“And how did people know how to make food?” she asked.

“How do you think people from the ordering center makeour food? They take the ingredients, mix them somehow and sculpt them to make them attractive,” said Toni’s mom.

“The people, who make the food in the ordering center, are they healthier?” asked Toni.

“No, they are not healthy at all. Part of their salary is the food they can take home after a hard day’s work. So, all their food is ordered. They don’t make anything at home. I wouldn’t want to be working in the ordering center. It’s very hard work, and the salary is very low.”

“I still don’t see a way out of this vicious circle,” said Toni.

She was very confused. Every which way she turned got her back to the same point. How could people eat something that was so bad for them?

“You could ask the same question about being in bad company, smoking, drugs or alcohol,” said her mom.

“There is a group of people called ‘Healthyists’. They never order food. They grow their own food and make it all by themselves. It looks very different from what we eat now.Dad and I once tried to be ‘Healthyists’ but it didn’t work.”

“It was terrible!” continued Toni’s dad. “There were only three stores in the whole city that sold food for ‘Healthyists’.We went to a remote place on the other side of the city. It was a small place. Everyone there looked great. It was so expensive! They had big areas where they grew all kinds of leaves and fruits and vegetables. It was all new for us. It was so expensive. We bought one sample from each product, just to taste. There were so many things there. It was terrible. No taste. Some of them we had to put in special containers filled with water and heat. Some, they said, we needed to cut into pieces. Some had a seed you could eat. It was such hard work. We had to work so hard for everything we put in our mouth, not to mention how long it took them to grow everything until it reached the rightsize. There were weird things there, all kinds of colors andshapes. Everything had a different size.”

“There were things there we had to peel and eat only the inside. In others, we had to eat only the outside. It was a whole project, just to learn what do with each thing,” continued Toni’s mom.

“Did they have any MP in them?” asked Sean.

“They didn’t have any MP or any flavor. We were hungry for two weeks,” said Toni’s dad as he opened a packet of ‘Salty Sticks Number 6’.

He felt he needed to compensate himself for those two weeks. Toni thought it was cute to hear her parents talking about their adventures.

“And then what happened?” she asked curiously.

“Nothing. Your grandmother heard we’d turned into ‘Healthyists’ and went ballistic. We suffered for two weeks and were hungry all the time. On top of that, we had to stand her calling every day to say we were going to starve to death if we didn’t eat ‘normal’ food,” said Toni’s mom and went to the drinking machine.

Her favorite was ‘Pink DrinkNumber 9’.

“And did grandma win?” asked Sean.

His grandmotherwas a very special creature. When she decided something,she never gave up. He smiled thinking that his parents went through the same things young people go through with their parents.

“Grandma knew she would win the minute she started with it. It was so hard, we just gave up.”

“If it is so tasteless, then how can the ‘Healthyists’ eat it for such a long time?” asked Toni.

“If you talk to them, they’ll tell you it tastes good. They say our taste buds are all damaged. They say that our food contains so much of the artificial substances that we can’t feel the taste like they do. We sort the food into major tastes: sour, salty and sweet, but there are many other tastes. For them, there are many kinds of ‘sweet’,” answered Toni’s mom.

“I thought taste was something absolute. Like when I order my ‘Blue Car’. I order number three and everyone understands what I mean,” said Toni.

“That’s exactly what they say. Level of sweetness is not one, two or three. We distinguish between them with numbers, they can tell between them in more detail,” saidToni’s dad.

Toni didn’t really understand it. She always preferred the sweet tastes and always ordered the highest number. She didn’t understand what ‘different kinds of sweetness’ meant.

“I cannot understand how people live in the 22n'd century and still make their own food. How do they know how to eat it?” she thought aloud.

“Think about it, Toni, it is like our big computer. It does everything for us. Without it, we couldn’t order, we couldn’t contact each other, we wouldn’t be able to control the temperature and use all the other equipment. It is so important in our lives and yet only a small group of people know how it works, a smaller group can fix it and an even smaller group can build it,” said Toni’s dad.

For years, he’d been working on a single computerprogram for controlling the temperature. The fact he didn’t know anything about other areas really bothered him.

Toni tried to think about all the things that she did everyday. She didn’t know how things worked or what they were made of: their car, their TV, electricity. She didn’t evenknow how the top drawer in her bedroom slid down when she opened it. She never bothered to think about these things, as long as they worked. If something went wrong,they could always order help.

“We can get along without the computer, but we can’t without food,” said Sean.“

Let’s see you getting along for a few days without water,when the water pump stops working,” said his dad.

Sean thought about it for a while. He knew that many things in life were very important, but he didn’t understand how important they were unless he had a problem with them. Only then he understood he didn’t have many alternatives.

Soon afterwards, Toni’s mom said she had a meeting and left to go to her workroom. Her dad opened a pack of stars and went to watch his favorite show.

Sean and Toni stayed in the dining room.

“Do you think she’ll come?” asked Sean.

“I don’t know. I hope she will. I didn’t think about it before, but I won’t have any food for her.”

“I hope you don’t mind me hanging around here during the party.”

Sean used to look at Sam during breaks, sitting all by herself on a side bench, eating strange things she brought from home. She was always reading a book. He wanted so badly to go and talk to her, but he was afraid she wouldn’t want to talk to him.

Toni looked at Sean. The few friends she had, who had brothers, hated them. Sean was a wonderful brother. Sam Reeve was indeed a beautiful girl. Otherwise, Toni wouldn’t be so jealous of her.

She smiled at him. “Of course I don’t mind. Just bear in mind, all my friends have a crush on you.”

The next day during a break, Toni looked for Sam. Just as Sean said, she found her on a side bench, reading a book.

“Hi Sam, what are you reading?”

“Just a research book about the brain,” she answered and closed the book.

Toni sat down next to her.

“Sounds interesting. I download all my books. I haven’t seen a real book for a long time.”

Sam smiled.“I came to ask you if you were coming to my party,” saidToni.

Sam was embarrassed. She hoped to think about it a bit longer before making a decision. She didn’t really know if she wanted to go. She wanted to spend time with her classmates, but didn’t like their company.

“I’m going with my mom this week to buy some things from a ‘Healthyist’ shop on the other side of the city. I thought maybe I could buy you things you could eat at my party,” said Toni.

Toni hadn’t really planned that. Her mom wasn’t going with her to any ‘Healthyist’ shop, but she felt she had to make up something so that Sam would come, and it was the only story that came to her mind.

Sam opened her eyes in surprise. She didn’t think Toni knew anything about ‘Healthyists’. It was so considerate of her. Toni was a skinny girl that ate ordered food all day.

Sam always wanted to try the chocolate wafer that Toni ate as a snack every break. She didn’t think Toni knew anything about shops for ‘Healthyists’. She was so surprised.

She only managed to say “Thanks.”

Toni smiled, hoping that it was encouraging.

“Is there anything special you like?” she asked.

“There are a lot of things I like, but I can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be nice of me to expect you to buy things from a‘Healthyist’ shop,” Sam answered, staring at her feet.

“Why not?”

“Because they are very expensive. Just buy anything you like. On most days, they have sales, so you can just buy whatever’s cheapest on the day that you’re there.”

Toni wanted to argue, but thought better of it.

“What do you drink?” she asked.

“Water. Mineral water. You can order it from the order center. It’s more expensive than juice,” she said and felt bad.

“Why is it more expensive? Isn’t the juice based on water?” asked Toni.

“Yes, it is. But when they make juice, they mix it with water that is not so clean. If you add sugar, color and MP,no one can feel the water isn’t pure. Pure mineral water goes through many filtering systems. They work harder to prepare it,” explained Sam.

“I love ‘Blue Ice Cream Car Number 3’.

What about you?” tried Toni.

Sam smiled. She understood that Toni was still asking her what to buy for the party.

“I told you I don’t feel comfortable asking you to buy me anything.”

Toni felt transparent. Sam could read her mind. She decided to be honest.

“My parents tried to be ‘Healthyists’ once, but it didn’t work for them. I think they needed help from people who know what to do. I wanted to try some things and I thought you might recommend something especially tasty so I could have a positive experience,” she said and turned to go.

Sam looked at her. “Toni is actually very nice to me,” she thought to herself.

“I especially love Thai Mango. It’s really nice. You peel it and eat the inside without the seed. If you buy some for the party, I’ll show you how to eat it.”

Toni picked up her stuff and got up to go, then smiled at Sam and said, “See you on Friday at 9:00.”

On Friday, Sam hurried home. She hadn’t been to a party for a long time. She tied her hair with spirals to make it wavy, just for one night. She tried different clothes on. One set looked too dark and the other too flashy. She looked for something that wasn’t so noticeable.

“What are you going to eat there?” her mom asked.

“It doesn’t matter, mom. I’ll eat nothing. I have raisins in my bag. If I’m hungry, I’ll eat my raisins.”

“I think if you eat ordered food from time to time, it won’t be so bad,” her mom tried to encourage her.

“No mom, I don’t think I want to eat ordered food. Look at them. They all look like they are going to die. I told you.Whenever I touch the MP, I feel the pressure in my ears and I wheeze like I have Asthma.”

Sam had tried it before.

Every time her mom said, “Let’s try again, maybe your body is stronger, maybe it found away to deal with ordered food,” they’d try again and the wheezing would start immediately.

Food wasn’t that important anyway. Sam preferred putting all her energy into finding the right clothes. The red was too pretty. She hadn’t attended a party for a long time, so she didn’t even know how the other girls dressed.

Her mom looked at her sadly. A long, long time before,they had eaten ordered food, too. It had been so good, so easy.

She was sad that her daughter was so different. She’d never thought she would become a ‘Healthyist’, until Sam had come into their lives and the doctor had said she had a severe lung problem. Then they had gone through months of medication and hospitals. She had been so small. She’d huffed and puffed, until a ‘Healthyist’ friend had promised that a month on a healthy diet would make her well again.

It had been the hardest month of their lives, and everything had been different afterwards.

“The red shirt looks beautiful on you,” she said.

“Yes, I know. Don’t you think it’s too red, though?”

“You’re pretty. Everything you put on will be pretty,” said her mom.

It wasn’t easy raising such a different child.Pretty, healthy and so good at school that everyone was jealous of her.

“Do you think he’ll come?” asked her mom, drying her hair.

“I don’t know. I hope so. He is older than we are. I’m notsure he will feel comfortable with us.”

“He is only a year older than you. It’s his house. Do youthink Toni will throw him out of the house before the party starts?”

“I don’t know. I saw them during break talking to each other. They are very nice to each other. It looks like they’re good friends,” answered Sam.

Her hair was dry. Her spirals came out bouncy and wavy,just like the way she liked them. She looked at her computer again. The red was prettier, the black was more formal. The black showed her great figure and the red showed her soft, dark skin.

“I am pretty,” was her conclusion. She went to her closet, took out a shirt, put it on and left the room.

Her dad was in the kitchen, making soup.

“Hey gorgeous,” he said and smiled at her, his smile bursting with love. He was so proud of her.

“Mom said you were going to Toni’s party. I’m happy to hear,” he gently touched her hair.

“I’m making some vegetable soup. Would you like to eat some before you go? I don’t think you’ll get any healthy food at this party.” He kept on chopping vegetables into tiny squares.

“I don’t think they know what healthy food is. Toni’s parents order everything. They have a huge unit in thebeautiful building by the lake. They probably entered the order center and ordered food for a party. You only need to write the day, how many people come, their age, how many are boys and how many are girls, whether there are any special requirements and what your budget is. That’s how you pick food for a party,” said Sam.

Sam’s dad twisted his face.

“Never mind. We’ve talked about this hundreds of times,” said Sam’s mom and changed the subject.

“You can invite them to a party, too, if you want.”

“What would you give them to eat? Do you want to work hard for hours, just so a bunch of teenagers will throw up everything you make?” said Sam’s dad.

“For people that eat junk, you can always order junk.Sam just told you how easy it is,” answered Sam’s mom.

Sam smiled. Her mom always had a solution for every problem. For years, she’d been feeling guilty that Sam couldn’t eat like everyone else. Sam didn’t even feel bad about it. She loved the healthy food. Sometimes, she wanted a bit of chocolate, but only sometimes.

One doctor told her that her body was so healthy that it was telling her what it could and couldn’t have. It didn’t give her a choice.Her grandma said her body was so determined, that it didn’t allow her to hurt herself.

She took a pack of green tea from the green tea jar and put it in her bag.

She stood at the door. Toni’s unit was big and fancy. She felt butterflies in her stomach.

Are they going to pick on her?

Is he going to be there?

Are they going to spend the whole evening talking about food and diets?

She took a deep breath and touched the door.

The door opened and Toni’s mother stood at the entrance. She was skinny and tall and smiled widely at her.

“Sam, I’m glad you could make it,” she said and showed her in.

The room was dark. She was happy no one could see her. There were lots of little lights and the music was especially loud. People were dancing in slow motion. She looked around for Sean. He was not around. It sounded as if there were 100 people, but she knew there were only about 25 or 30.

Toni saw her from across the room and came to welcome her.

“I’m glad you came. There is someone here who wants to meet you,” she said and took her to a lit corner.

“I would like to introduce you to my brother, Sean,” she said and pointed at him.

“Sean, this is Sam. She’s in my class.

”Sam felt the butterflies again. She was so excited she had no words. She smiled and nodded with her head.

“Well, excuse me. I have to welcome some guests. Sean,could you take care of Sam and protect her from the other girls?” asked Toni and left.

Sean looked at her excitedly. Her shirt was so becoming.Sam felt she was under a microscope. She wanted to disappear.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked.

He’d been waitingfor this moment for so long. She smiled shyly and nodded.

He took her hand and led her to the dance area. Her body felt just right in his arms. For a second he thought he wouldn’t mind eating healthy food just to get some of her attention.

At the end of the dance, he took her to the table.

Sam tried to avoid going to the table but Sean insisted.

“Come on, let’s have something to eat,” he said, holding her hand tightly and pulling her to the table.

Those moments were always her breaking points. The beautiful look of the cakes, the pile of chocolate bars, the talks about food and everyone looking at her.

“Don’t worry. I promised Toni I’d take care of you,” he said, as if he could read her mind.

A group of people stood around the table. There were sounds of surprise and excitement. When she walked into the room, everyone looked at her and the room went quiet.

On the table, she saw a big tray of mangos and small jars with beautiful fruits all around it.

Never in her life had she seen so many mangos on one tray.

“It must have cost afortune,” she thought.

They all looked at her shocked face.She looked at Toni.

“You told me to buy the cheapest thing they had on thatday,” she said, smiling.

“Now you have to teach us how to eat it.” Sam was shocked.

All eyes were looking at her. She looked at Sean, who smiled at her.

What if they hated it?

What if it was good and the girls would hate her even more?

What if Sean didn’t like it?

The butterflies came again.

“Some opportunities only come once in a lifetime,” she heard her dad saying.

She went to her bag and took the green tea bags out.

“I need a jug of boiled water,” she said and went to the table.

Toni went to the computer and said “Hot water.”

“Mango is a tropical fruit. It’s very good even without this green tea”, she said and put three sachets of green tea in the boiling water, “but since you’re used to eating ordered food,it will be hard for you to feel the real taste of the mango.”

She put some of her raisins in the water. “My grandma says the green tea cleans the tongue. The raisins are a dried fruit called ‘grapes’. They ease the bitterness of the tea.”

Sam put some tea in small cups that were there next to the cocktail bowl.

Sean served them to the people standing next to him.

Some took with hesitation.

Others said “No, thank you.”

Sam took a Mango and cut its side with a knife.

The inside color was dark orange, similar to the color outside.

She cut from top to bottom and then from right to left,forming tiny squares, and put them on an empty plate.

Everyone looked at each other suspiciously. She looked at them trying to find one brave person.

Toni’s mom looked atthem from the side. She didn’t remember any mangos from her attempts to be healthy.

“You have to drink this green tea if you really want to know what mango tastes like,” Sam said with a smile.

Toni brought the cup close to her lips. It had an unpleasant smell.

“Close your eyes and drink it in one go,” Sam suggested.

Toni closed her eyes and drank.

Everyone looked at her.

She looked normal.

She smiled bravely.“It wasn’t so bad,” she said and the rest did the same.

Sam handed them the plate, but no one touched it. She took one cube and put it in her mouth. It tasted like heaven.Her face was full of smiles.She looked so pretty. Sean stuck a long fork in a mango cube and put it in his mouth. The cube rolled in his mouth from side to side. It was soft and melted in his mouth. He felt a tickle at the front of his tongue and then the ticklewent backwards. He’d never felt the same with ordered food.

Everyone looked at him quietly. He finished the cube, trying to decide whether he liked it or not, then took another cube.Then, two more people came closer to the table and each of them took a cube with a long fork. The music stopped.All the guests came to the table, whispering to each other.

Sam kept on cutting mangos.When they had talked in class about their favorite food and the fantasies they had about food, some fantasized an ice cream swimming pool and some mountains of chocolates.Sam quietly fantasized a big pile of mangos. Her fantasy hadcome true.

Toni’s dad came to the table. He took a small cup of the green tea, closed his eyes and drank it in one go.Then he used a long fork and took some mangos from Sam’s hand. When he finished he took some more.

“Sheri,” he turned to Toni’s mom, “I think this is whatwe’ve been missing: the green tea. I can eat this thing for hours. I think grandma would have lost this battle,” he said triumphantly.

Toni and her mom came to the table.“How did you know what to buy?” Sam asked her.

“I asked for things for a party and the guy at the store recommended these things,” answered Toni and took a big piece of the mango.

Soon after, everyone tried from the fruits on the table. Sam cut everything into small pieces and encouraged everyone to wash their mouth with green tea.

They were all laughing and playing with the food and Sam smiled. It was all about food after all.

Later that night, she was standing with Sean at the entrance to her building.

“I’m glad you came,” he said and touched her hand softly.

“I’m glad I came, too,” she said happily.

“I loved that thing with the black seeds, the red thing with the green outside. I’m glad you showed us how to eat it.”

“It’s called a watermelon. Remember the name, so you can ask for it in the store”, she said, trying to say a whole sentence while his hand was holding hers and her heartbeat was 4 times faster than normal. He smelled nice.

“You look pretty in red,” he said and touched her red cheek. She wore no makeup. She was so pretty and natural.

“I need to go,” she said, trying to stay calm.

She wanted to stay like this until the morning, but knew she had to go upstairs.

“What a pity,” he said and kept on touching her cheeks and looking at her admiringly.

“I’m having a party next month. I hope you can come,” she said courageously.

He leaned forward and kissed her. She bowed her head,turned and went inside.When she walked in, she knew her mom would wake up.

Her mom peeked from her parents’ bedroom door and whispered,

“How was it?”

“Full of mangos,” she whispered back and went to herroom.

She took off her red shirt. She could still smell the chocolate ring from his mouth when he kissed her. She stroked her pocket.

“I think if you eat ordered food from time to time, it won’t be so bad,” she remembered her mom saying.

She took the chocolate bar from her pocket, opened the nice package and took a bite.The smell, she thought, would help her survive until Monday, when she’d see him again at school.

Romans 14:1-23

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or falls.

And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

#teens