Hotdogs and Camus
…it was only a momentary scent but it stirred my senses. I felt as if I were waking up for the first time that day—as if the previous three hours had only been a monotony of routine leading up to this moment. The privilege of being able to enjoy a certain comestible at any time I like…that is one of the hallmarks, it seemed, of adulthood. There are many such things that one might associate with being an adult, as opposed to a child or ward, yet all of these may be considered responsibilities, rather than privileges.
Perhaps it was right. Perhaps it was a sign, from God or whoever it is who looks over such things. Perhaps it was neither of these things, or both. It was a sudden experience, and I felt blessed by the suddenness of it all: the moment of the quiet country farm, the essence of the cool spring water, and the richness of the dark brown earth. The world, my world, presented as real as you and I, and yet as dreamlike as a breeze in summer.
When I looked down I found I had eaten the entire package.
~ from Albert Camus’s La Saucisse.
Part of Poem-a-Day 2013. Title donated by J.O S.