SHE Writing Competition

Open Finalist: Jude Aquilina

She Who Discovers…

realises that love is a supermarket –where you go when stocks are running low list in hand looking for specials, sometimes take home a bargain but soon realise there was a reason it was going out cheap. Next trip she is wiser, looking for fresh healthy sustenance. She studies the packaging, wishes she could taste before she buys, tries to select wisely – the look of the label, the ingredients, the use-by-date.

But again, the packet mix seems far from what the label spruiked. Perhaps it’s her, she thinks, perhaps she’s not following the cooking instructions. Tired of so many trips to the supermarket she decides to shop online. A sparkling array of goods smile from her screen. She presses for delivery, waits anxiously for them to arrive but there’s a discrepancy between picture and product.

Some are easily returned, others she tries to post back but there’s no return address and they hang around smelling off. Then one day she pops in to her local corner deli and sees a fresh gourmet meal, the sort she wants to take straight home. She keeps going back for more until she learns the recipe and it serves her well for the rest of her life.