Invention and Shame

Eons ago. Millenia ago. Back when I was a young'n but not too young. Old enough to know better. I was over my best friend's house (hereby referred to as Autonomous Government.)

We were playing videogames and drinking Kool-Aid. He was in his room doing that, not me, actually. I was in the kitchen foraging for snacks like our hunter-gatherer predecessors. There was toast, this was my given. My constant. The foundation materials for this snack. The drawers of his kitchen held much that could be applied to toast, but not all of them appropriate. What was normally acceptable on toast was limited. Butter was easily located in the fridge, but what else could be added? Something unique? Something to add a bit of pizzazz to my toast.

So I find one of those tiny little jars of minced garlic sitting in water. Perfect. I sprinkle some of the morsels over the butter spread, and pop that sucker in the toaster oven. Minutes later, out comes the snack, and I let it cool before cutting into it with my choppers.

Heavens above! The taste!

"AUTONOMOUS!" I shout his actual name, of course.

I rush into his bedroom, his face is full of surprise and curiosity.

"You've got to taste what I've invented! It's delicious. I put butter on bread, then some garlic and toasted it! Try it, it's amazing." I thrust the slice before him.

He looks down at the toast, then back up to me. His face has changed drastically.

"You mean... garlic bread?"

When I heard those two words, the happy place within us all fell under shadow. My smile dropped. Blood rushed to the surface of my face, for what physiological purpose I do not know. Nostrils flared and burst, letting air in and out with gasps. Eyebrows pushed together with strain but never touched. The shame. Oh, the shame. I briskly turned and exited the room, Autonomous Government's laughter trailing behind me, fading as I passed from room to room back to the kitchen. Later, I would laugh too. But there, I sat. And ate the rest of my garlic bread.