Category: Photography
Wordless Wednesday: Nature Finds a Way
Carrots Go To Heaven
A single perfectly browned latke slid onto his plate, leaving a trail of oil over the stoneware dish painted with faceless angels circling the rim. Grazina placed one on her own plate, then dropped the pan into the sink with a hush of steam.
…
She gestured at the bowl of raw carrots. “Those are for you. Eat up.”
Hai took a bite from a carrot, then picked up his fork, eager to try the latke.
“No, eat the carrot first. Please.” She leaned forward, knife and fork on each side of the plate, a paper towel tucked in her collar. “It’s important.”
He finished the carrot, then picked another from the bowl and put the whole thing in his mouth.
“They’re good for you, believe me.” She cut into her latke like it was a steak.
“For the eyes, right?”
“That’s a lie the army told in World War Two to hide the fact that they used top-notch radar. Carrots,” she paused for effect, “give you the will to live.”
He took a bite of the latke, which was perfectly made, crispy at the edges and delicately salted with a touch of herbs he couldn’t name.
“What do you mean?” he said, chewing.
“It’s a root. And roots prevent you from getting the blues.” She picked one from the bowl; it gleamed under the kitchen light. “You see, carrots become bright orange because it’s so dark in the ground. They make their own light because the sun never reaches that far—like those fish in the ocean who glow from nothing? So when you eat it, you take in the carrot’s will to go upward. To heaven.”