Chilli Flakes

Celene shut her laptop, took off her anti-glare glasses and stepped out of her cubicle for lunch. She didn’t like the fare served at the office cafeteria. Moreover she hated lunch-time gossip.

As usual she took the stairs instead of the elevator. She had been doing so for the last couple of years since she decided to take on a healthier lifestyle on her thirtieth birthday though she hardly needed it with a God gifted slender and fit body. Lunch meant the usual salads and juice, may be an occasional soup or an even rarer sandwich when she would be extremely stressed out with work.

But today she was feeling breezy. Her efforts had been appreciated by an important client and she was also able to meet the deadline for submission of her latest project. Once she stepped out onto the sidewalk, she decided to have a little celebration. She decided to give her usual diet a skip. She started scanning the neighbourhood in search of delicious and possibly unhealthy food.

There was a street vendor serving doner kebabs close by. She looked a bit further, there was a Chinese restaurant which she knew was good. There was an Indian joint across the street. She was confused. Right then a cab passed by. One of those with a taxi-top advertisement. The ad was of a famous pizza delivery chain.

She hadn’t had a slice of pizza for ages, Celene thought. She loved pizza. She had literally lived on a pizza diet during her college days. There was a pizzeria right around the next corner, she recollected. She passed it daily while walking from the tube to office. She decided to go there for lunch.

It was a small place, but Celene liked the ambience. It was not very crowded and couch was very comfortable. Most importantly, the table was just at the right height for her. Being a bit, what she liked to call herself in jest, “vertically challenged”, Celene had her share of issues with table heights.

Comfortably seated, she started checking latest updates on Facebook in her Smartphone. When the waiter came up to her, she quickly scanned the menu and ordered for a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza and a soda. The service was prompt.

She was still glued to her phone while she reached for the chilli pepper flakes shaker and started sprinkling over the pizza. Once she was done checking the updates of her friends, she took a sip of her soda and picked up a slice of the pizza. She immediately noticed that she had sprinkled chilli flakes on it. Although the other slice was still clean. “Just like old days.” She thought. She was surprised how some old habits don’t change. While she had locked up certain important memories in some corner of her brain and didn’t let them bother her anymore, she realized that the subconscious mind was a lot harder to train to forget. She felt angry and amused at the same time.

She beckoned the waiter over. He immediately paced up to her table and asked, “Is there anything wrong with the food?” She smiled at him and said, “No the pizza is delicious. But tell me something. Do you like chilli flakes on your pizza?” The waiter was surprised but he politely replied, “Yes I do.” Celene said, “Good. Actually I have mistakenly sprinkled some on this slice. But I don’t like chilli flakes on my pizza. So I was wondering if you would like to sit down here and share a slice with me.” The waiter was amused at her strange request. However he was trained not to offend a patron and since there were hardly any other guests in his section, he said, “Sure, I can do that. Thanks for the pizza.”

Celene smiled at him and went back to browsing her Facebook page on her phone.

She updated her status as “How do I mind my un-mindful mind from sprinkling chilli flakes on half of the pizza???”

A few hundred miles away in another city, Rob was checking or rather stalking Celene on her Facebook account. As usual he had logged into his trusted friend’s account to check Celene’s as he himself was blocked by her. As he saw her status update, he immediately understood what it meant. He also knew no one else could ever make sense of it. He started smiling and mumbled to himself, “Don’t try, because you never can.”