Everything was black, she could hear herself breathing but she couldn’t see anything. Fear streaked through her as she realized she couldn’t move her body, couldn’t raise one onion finger. She couldn’t remember how she had gotten here or why she was in so much pain. Confused and exhausted she pushed her mind to remember how she could’ve gotten herself into this situation. At first her mind was blank but slowly snippets of memories started returning, the day she became the #1 salsa in Washington State, what a proud day that had been, she still had the trophy on the mantle above her fireplace, shined it up weekly. Many memories came back, but it was as though she’d hit a wall, nothing recent, no clue to why she was paralyzed came back to her.
She didn’t know how long she’d been here, frozen and alone, she only knew that she wanted to be someplace, any place else right now.
Suddenly she heard voices, why did they sound so distant, she strained to hear what was being said but it was as though she was listening to them through a long tunnel, nothing clear enough to make out anything. But this gave her hope, if she could hear them maybe they could hear her, if only she could make her mouth move, say something to get their attention. Move. That was the key word, she had a vague recollection that she had a special gift, one that could help her out this silent prison.
She took a deep breath and concentrated on a single word, she pushed everything from her mind and focused this one word to her lips, before she could force the word out the conversation became louder around her, though it was for a split second she was able to understand at least one word. “Chipotle” It was as if a curtain had been lifted, all the lost memories came rushing back to her and she was once again flooded with a sense of purpose, with renewed determination she cleared her mind and focused…..
MEANWHILE:
…”Do you think she’ll be okay” La Guac asked looking down at Pico in the hospital bed.
“Sure she will, she always bounces back” replied El B matter-of-factly.
“Well she’s been out for over 24 hours, the doctor’s aren’t optimistic she’ll come out of it anytime soon” La Guac said.
ColumBEANa looked from one to the other “Hey!” she yelled “She’ll come out of it, this is Pico de Gallo we’re talking about, all those fresh veggies, how can she not get better??”
El B looked doubtful but kept his opinion to himself, he didn’t want to scare the other two. He stared down at Pico and shook his head. It wasn’t looking good.
“Ohmigod guys did you see that?” shrieked ColumBEANa “I swear I just saw a tomato move! She’s coming back to us” she jumped up and down smiling.
La Guac turned back to Pico and stared, she kept staring and was about to look away when she saw some Cilantro shift. She held her breath exepectantly, staring across the room she saw that El B had seen it too. They all waited.
The only sounds were the machines and the ticking of the clock on the wall, but then quietly they heard it, it was almost inaudible but they were listening hard and they had heard the one word uttered from the otherwise still form of Pico: “Burritos”
They all rushed the bed, smiles on their faces, each trying to talk over the other.
“Pico, you had us worried!” said La Guac
“Of course we ordered the burritos on Thursday” El B said gruffly choking back his tears of relief
“Chipotle saved the day!” chimed in ColumBEANa
Pico opened her eyes and smiled, slowly coming out of her trancelike state, she didn’t know how long it would take to get back to her old self but now that she heard what she needed to hear she knew there was nowhere to go but forward….
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