I ate some little carrots on my break. It was 3:05 pm and I ate them so quickly that I barely noticed the taste of them. Sometimes that’s what I do: eat in a haze. I have to eat a number of vegetables and fruits every day to be healthy, so I space them out and scarf them down, barely noticed.

“Where are you going on your break today?” Every day at 10 am and 3 pm, he leaves the office for a break. Sometimes he goes to the post office. Sometimes he runs an errand. “Maybe I drive around. Find people on the street.” His Chinese accent is thick and he is jovial. He doesn’t sound nearly as ominous in person as he does on paper. “What will you do? Throw tomatoes at them? Scream at them?” He laughs and waves me away. “I go to Smith’s.” I call to him as he walks out the door, “You’re so punk rock!”

Smith’s is the local grocery store chain. It bought Fred Meyer a few years ago and now it has been bought by Kroger. I’m surprised they have kept the name. He returns with a see-through bag. He swings it around and catches the fruit in it. He pulls out a dark Red Delicious Apple. “That’s a Snow White apple.” I’m scared he won’t understand me. “That looks like the apple that the wicked witch gave Snow White.” To this day, I don’t think I like those kinds of apples because of that cartoon. He walks to the lunchroom to wash it.

He brings it back, glistening. He is wiping it dry with a paper towel and I try to explain more. “Snow White bites into the apple and she sleeps until the prince kisses her… or maybe that’s Sleeping Beauty.” He shakes his head. “No, it’s Snow White. We bought video for daughter. She watch over and over.” I realize that he is probably much more familiar with Snow White than I am. I haven’t seen the movie since I was a child… and here I am trying to explain it to him. Silly Laura… I ate my last two carrots in shame.