A Sweet Curry, with a Lonely Taste

Once, I went on a date with a man who worked as a teacher at a private elementary school.

He told me he always ate the school lunch and never cooked at home.

So he said, almost proudly, that sometimes he just wanted to eat “a grown-up spicy curry.”

I didn’t like the way he said it — or the bored look on his face when he talked about sweet curry.

It made me remember my childhood.

My father and brother both liked their curry hot,

so I always had to compromise.

But secretly, I loved the mild, child-sized retort pouch curry —

the kind with too much sweetness, too little pride.

Now, I prefer a normal curry.

But sometimes, when I want to remember that quiet kind of loneliness,

I find myself craving that taste again.

Tonight was one of those nights.

I warmed up my loneliness in the microwave and ate it.

———

©️DSH / 2025