Chocolate Abundance

This wafted into being from the prompt: scarcity and abundance

By Patty Lawrence

Scarcity and abundance mingle and jingle together on my hips. The flourless chocolate raspberry torte was so rich and scrumptious that I had to eat it. Nearly all of it. All by myself. Oh sure, there were dinner guests who could not finish the tiny sliver on their pates for the richness of it. But I had no such trouble. The whole thing was so dainty and elegant.

Perhaps its diminutive size made it so tempting. Too small to share. Must be devoured. Pounced upon. Wolfed down. And not just the sliver on my plate, but the rest of it too. The package said eight servings and thank God I don’t remember how many grams of fat or calories. One just should not look at those numbers. It was such a tiny, delicate, little chocolate circle that it just begged, “gobble me up!” So I did.

Really now, I’ve no idea when I’ll get another chance to eat chocolate and raspberries again. There could be a shortage, a run at the grocery store. Would a shortage create long lines? Would people hoard it? Trade it on the black market? There could be a big storm what wipes out all the coco beans. Then the price of chocolate might hit $90s a barrel. Do you remember the last time that happened?

And who knows when I’ll get another chance to get some? Perhaps next Christmas? Maybe Valentines Day? One should take all the chocolate eating opportunities that present themselves. And if none are to be found, they are easy to create. It’s as simple as taking a small detour to Trade Joe’s. Two lefts turns and you’re in and out. Scarf down as much chocolate as you can and it's parfait de complete.

Okay, maybe there is no shortage of that delicious, dark, velvety, sweet stuff at the grocery store or occasions to eat it. But there is also an abundance of it left on me. When I sit, it spreads itself out across the chair into a not so flattering width. Chocolate abundance shows itself with vengeance on my waste-line. And I’m pretty sure that panty lines and chocolate raspberry torte know one another intimately.

Everyone thinks that dieters and deprivation go together. Maybe they do. But I find the scarcity mentality makes me curvaceous. Eat it now. Gobble it up. Devour. Cram. Gulp. Down the hatch. Deny me a Ghirardelli Square for one week and I’ll spend the next year making up for it.

Physical abundance goes hand in hand with mental scarcity. How am I doing today? Just check the sweet-tooth thermometer. If only a little Godiva could make everything right.

When my body, mind, and spirit are aligned, chocolate is not abundantly in my home awaiting an opportunity to ambush ample hips. When I remember that Hershey bars are generally not more than five minutes away, their allure is lost by their very commonness. All is right with the world when all my desires are met with a reasonable amount of flourless chocolate raspberry torte.

Art by Mo -- using computer, Paint program

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