Expiry Date

Without real reason he decided it was time to clean out the cupboard. As he got to the back some of the dates on the packages had expired over five years ago. It made him feel slightly ill to think that this food had been there so long.

The problem was that every time he bought new food he put it at the front and things that were already there just got shuffled slowly to the back. He mustn’t do this again he said to himself, he must develop a system.

As he carried the box of ‘expired’ food stuff to the front door he thought about how his cupboard represented his life. Never dealing with issues, just pushing them to the back of his mind and covering them with newer problems. Perhaps it was time to face up the real darkness. The childhood issues that sadly had no expiry date and contaminated the whole of his life.

He stared at the threadbare rug at the top of the steps and thought about how many times he had meant to replace it. His heel caught in the edge and he fell, the box and its contents smashing and spilling onto the pavement.

The edge of glass jar severed his artery, as his eyes misted and the view of the spilt food clouded away he thought about the suddenness of his own expiry date.