Albert's Lunch

When I was about ten years old, my sister, who was sixteen, was involved in forensics. If you’re unfamiliar with it, forensics is a drama program, usually extracurricular, where students compete in activities like dramatic readings, storytelling, debate, and many other categories of speaking and acting. This particular year, my sister was doing a storytelling routine of Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. I had watched her rehearse it so often that I could recite the whole story and all the actions along with her (or all by myself tucked away in my bedroom). I thought forensics looked like a lot of fun, and I loved tagging along to competitions to watch my sister in action. 

One of my favorite characters from the book is Albert. He is Frances' best friend in the book and has a superior pallet for a young badger (FYI: the characters are badgers). Each day at school, Albert would lay out a napkin, his salt shaker, and all the delicious parts of his sophisticated lunch. He would then take a bite of each item and go around again. I always thought Albert's lunch sounded amazing. My lunch was the same every day--ham on a bun, juice box, bag of chips, and a treat. 

Today, I was running around on my lunch break, trying to get a bunch of things done, when I stopped myself and remembered I had brought a good lunch. I had hummus, veggies, a salad with pasta and beans (under the leaves), avocado, some pickles, and crackers. I sat down, laid everything out in front of me, and giggled that it was a bit reminiscent of Albert's lunch; he always loved a pickle.