Let Me Tell You A Thing Or Two About Vegetables

I always wanted to buy vegetables at an open market. It seemed to me that walking down a street and pawing through baskets of vegetables to pick out the PRECISE ONES I WANTED would be an unparalleled ecstasy. It was my dream, fine and true.

And one clear summer day, I chose to make it a reality. I ventured out to the Vegetable Market. I walked those golden streets. I absorbed the odors of carrots, peas, eggplants, onions and avacados. I gathered the smells into myself, making them my own.

Everything was progressing excellently. I could not have asked for more. It was day enough to make God himself jealous. And then.. HE showed up.

At first he was unremarkable. He was wearing a pair of dusty blue jeans, a red flannel shirt, and brown boots. I figured he was just a typical patron of the Vegetable Market. Until he spoke.

"Come here much?" he suddenly asked.

"No," I said. "It's my virgin run! But I'm having a great time. It's always been my dream to visit a vegetable market. It's more wonderful than I could ever have imagined." I felt that he needed to be aware of my situation. This turned out to be my first mistake.

""More wonderful than you imagined", huh?" he mimicked. "Well. LET ME TELL YOU A THING OR TWO ABOUT VEGETABLES."

I recoiled in horror. His voice was battery acid eating away at the carcass of a roadkill raccoon.

"I used to be like you, you know. I really did. I started out with a dream. I dreamed of the sweetness of the Vegetable Market. And eventually, much like yourself, I ventured out. But what happened was far from dream-like. I WAS OVER-CHARGED FOR RUTABAGAS."

My mind gagged, a seasick suburban mother. I could not believe his words. Over-charged for rutabagas? Could such a thing be possible in the serenity of the Vegetable Market?

"Oh, yeah. I know you're skeptical. But it's the goddamn truth. Don't let these lying bastards fool you. They'll charge you an arm and a leg. Force you to pay any foolish amount merely to have the pleasure of buying their fucking vegetables. GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN. GO."

I shook my head. I couldn't believe him. It wasn't a truth. It couldn't be true. I glanced around the Vegetable Market, slowly at first, but with increasing speed as the horror consumed me. He had not told a lie. The vegetables were all priced at an obscene mark-up.

The man reached out and gently touched my arm, "It's going to be all right.. You're going to be fine, really. Just take a breath. Pull yourself together."

But I couldn't. The disillusionment was too much. My dream, my life, my DREAM had been shattered. I wept tears of bitter disillusionment.

"No, no. Don't cry. It's going to be FINE. Really."

As the man spoke, a slow thought slunk through my reeling brain, "But... If it's so horrible... It's horrible. It is. If it's so... How do you stay? How do you cope with it day after day, afternoon after afternoon? I can't understand. I don't understand. I can't.. No. I've got to.. Thank you." I ran.

"NO! Don't go!" he screamed.

But I couldn't stop my legs from pounding against the uneven pavement. I couldn't suppress my need to run. I couldn't shake the idea that my entire world was crumbling around me.

"YOU'LL REGRET IT!" he screamed.

At that, I slowed and turned. I walked a few steps towards him. "I'll... I'll what?"

"You'll regret it." he said.

I didn't understand. "What am I going to regret?"

"Your dream is not dead," he said.

I shook my head, "No, it is. You said so yourself. It has been mutilated. Entropy is. It was reduced to a fine powder of decay."

He smiled and touched my arm again, "No. You'll be fine. There is but one solution." He paused as his gaze turned to devour the Vegetable Market.

I clung to his words, my body vibrating with hope. If only he could... If only he could find a way to ressurrect my splintered dream.. If only he had a true answer.. My Vegetable Messiah.

He turned back to me. "It is this: Do not visit the Vegetable Market to buy the vegetables. Come only to look. Come only to experience the ambience. Make your vegetable purchases at the grocery store."

I stood, stunned. I could hardly digest his words. I peered carefully around the Vegetable Market. The overpriced veggies swam before my eyes. I again took them into myself and a new appreciation was planted there. I smiled, my dream restored.

Messiah laughed softly. "Now you see it. Sometimes, in order to love things, you have to let them die a little." He absently patted my arm and sidled off. My eyes followed him and he eventually disappeared.

Now I return each weekend to the Vegetable Market and each weekend I half-expect to see him there. But months have passed and I don't believe that I'll ever see him again. I like to think he was there for me and me alone. He communicated all there was to be said, all there ever would be to say and then he disappeared; a mysterious man with the heart of an artichoke.