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<jwoodard@best.com> Take A Bite copyright © 2003 by Joseph Woodard
is on the web at http://jwoodard.best.vwh.net/takeabite.html
"A strange flavor."
"What? Wha' d'you say?"
"I have this strange flavor in my mouth."
"What kind o' flavor?"
"It tastes like -- I don't know -- not like something, like the absence of something."
"How can you taste somethin' dat ain't there? You been drinking?"
"No. No. We just got up."
"Las' night. Las' night you had somethin'."
"I had a beer with dinner. That's all. I didn't have anything. No. This is different. Got nothing to do with drinking."
"Well. What gives?"
"I can't figure it out. It's curious."
"You da curious one."
"No, it's odd. It's like -- like the taste wants something. Like I'm thinking it could be a taste, if I put something in my mouth, something I never ate before. Something new. Wierd, huh?"
"Wierd fits."
"It's like the taste of things I never had and I want them all."
"You hungry. You didn' have no breakfas'."
"No. Thanks. But no, it's not that I'm hungry. It's like -- I want. All kinds of things, delights, sharp things, things that lay you down in ecstacy, things that tell you why, things of destiny."
"You should have somethin' to drink now. You OK?"
"I'm fine, I guess. It's passing now. I don't think I can taste it as strongly. But for a minute there I wanted to drink the seas from bedrock up. I wanted to munch the crust off mountain tops. I want to leap up and taste the meaning of stars. I wanted to know what love does and why there should be hate as an appetite. I wanted to put it all in my mouth and know the flavor of it all. You think I'm complete nutso, don't you?"
"You're not nuts. But if you don' get some coffee, I'm gonna pour it down your throat. Get movin'. You gonna be late for work."
"Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I got to keep my mind on what's important. Put the water on. Nuts, huh?"
"Don' worry 'bout it. You'll get over it as soon as you get on the job."
"Yeah. I know."
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