“I really like pizza,” Eliot said, chomping down on a piece of pepperoni.
“Uh, okay?” Ben scrunched his face. “That was sort of random.”
“No. I think pizza--” Eliot stopped to stare intensely at the slice in his hand. “--Pizza explains everything.”
“Is this pizza drugged?”
“No, stupid.” Eliot laughed, shoving him a little. “I’m serious!” Eliot insisted.
“Okay, what about pizza explains everything?”
“Well, take the pizza when you first open it. It’s full. It’s round. You have the whole thing to eat. At the beginning of life, you have everything to look forward to. The smells, the tastes; I mean, there’s a whole pizza!”
Ben wasn’t convinced. He still thought Eliot was being loopy.
“Then once you eat a couple of slices, it looks like pac-man.”
“Pac-man?” Ben snorted. “What does pac-man have to do with anything?”
“Pac-man is like a legend. An iconic representation of all things fun. And it was one of the first video games. Look at where we are now because of that pellet-eater!”
Ben reached for another slice. “Well, now there’s only half a pizza. How’s that representative of ‘everything?’”
“Because half a pizza looks like a smile. And when life is half gone, you’re old enough to look
back and see everywhere you’ve been and realize how much has happened. At the same time, if it hasn’t been good, you’re young enough you can make changes and get on track to get that smile; there’s half a pizza left, after all.”
“Half a pizza... or a pirate hat.” Ben stated sarcastically, turning the pizza box around.
Eliot rolled his eyes.
Ben continued. “Okay, smartie-pants, what about when there’s only one slice? Let me guess. It represents you’re about to kick the bucket, but there’s one good morsel left?” Ben shook his head. “That’s depressing.”
“No, no, no. When there’s one piece left, it like a spike or a stake. You’ve got one last shot at revenge before it’s all over.”
“That’s dumb. One slice is the shape of a triangle. That means it’s like the Triforce. Link’s
ultimate achievement. He saved the world! You know Zelda was the best game ever made. Now that’s everything explained!” Ben congratulated himself.
Eliot shook his head. “I’ll give you the triangle bit. But not for another game. We already
explained those. An upright triangle is representative of spirit, divinity, fire, life, prosperity and harmony. And the reversed triangle is denotative of mother earth, water, rain and grace. Triangles are often used for God and the holy trinity. When upright and downward triangles are put together, they form the Star of David, symbolizing balance and knowledge.”
Ben stared at Eliot in surprise. “Are we still talking about pizza?” Eliot just smiled. Ben nodded his head. “This is pretty crazy, but I like it.” He thought for a moment. “Hey, I got one.” He turned his slice of pizza around and took a few bites out of the crust. “If you bite out the middle, ad nibble the edge, it sorta looks like a heart. That’s what everything is all about, right? Love?”
Eliot nodded. “Now you see what I’m talking about. Pizza explains everything.”
8 comments:
Fun story. Those are some pretty insightful kids!
Man, I never thought pizza could be so symbolic. Good job, David.
@Cathy: Your life will never be the same, mwahaha. Everytime you and yours eat pizza, you will think of this story. :D
@Julie: Well... "kids" is relative. I purposely refrained from defining age in this story. And the rules for 30 days submissions said the story could be for any age level. Maybe I cheated a little :P
Fun story. Way to make a lesson fun to read! But what kind pizza was it? And did it have anchovies? Anchovies are sadly maligned in this part of the country. :)
Seriously, though, nice job.
@Scott: Thanks for the comment. I pretty much had to leave out everything, including the flavor of the pizza. It was in there originally, but word limit is so frustrating sometimes. My final version is still 34 words over, and I left out relatively all detail about these people other than their names. Sacrifices, I guess. :)
Wow!
Hi David, You know I'll never take pizza for granted again... Good way to make me really see pizza and think of pac-man, pellet-eater, revenge, you and on and on . . .
I really enjoyed it,
Marion Steiger
Yummy pizza. We had some tonight. Glad I ate before I read your story or I would have tried to play Pac Man with my slices and my kids :) lol
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