Hunger Pangs

Image of a takeout box for Chinese food.We are sitting in the kitchen when I ask her if she still loves me.

As she answers, she begins to remove all of the things I don’t like from a paper container of fried rice—the peas, the carrots, the chicken—until there is nothing left but browned rice and slimy onions.

I feel her doing the same thing with her words—spoon feeding me answers of little substance because she thinks I like the taste of them, how easily they slip down to my stomach.

She’s right. I eat it all.

I’m still hungry late into the night.

Rachel Nevada Wood is a graduate student, library assistant, and plant-mom living in Chapel Hill, NC. Her previous work has appeared in Cleaver.

Photo Credit: r. nial bradshaw

2 Responses to “Hunger Pangs”

  1. Andawn F. says:

    I like the beginning. It’s surprising – I thought you’d have written “…when I ask her if she is still hungry.”

  2. Petar Petrov says:

    That’s awesome! The analogy, the pace, the ending, everything is spot-on!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *