Sweet and salty

As she looked down on her dead body, floating, she giggled. This was probably the best way to die she could have imagined. She loved it and felt very happy, she did not even worry about the fact that she was floating in air or that she did not know what was going to happen next. She just embraced the moment, with a big smile on her lips, looking at the joyful corpse.

The day the girl was born, the actual moment her head popped out of her mother’s womb, she did not scream. Also, she did not cry like most of the newborns do. She was not even just silent – which would actually predict some kind of complication or even a disease of the child – but, in fact, she laughed. Before, her parents wanted to call her Julia, or Anna, or probably – something a little bit more interesting – Viola. However, this was the very moment they knew they had to call her Joy. The way Joy came into life was the way she lived her life. Even as a small girl, she always found little things that would bring her joy. Like small, round pebbles with funny colors. When Joy was older, music or soap bubbles would make her unbelievably happy. She could recall only very few moments in her life in which she actually did not feel joyful.

But there was one particular thing Joy really loved. And this means that she really, really loved it, not only with her whole heart, but her soul burnt for it, her body would scream in agony if it vanished from the world. Floating in air, dead, it was still the only thing she could think about: eating.

It was the moment good food touched her round lips, her tongue, her palate. When her teeth carefully chewed it, her tongue moving it from side to side, her saliva making it even juicier. She loved how sweet tasted, like a dream coming true; how sour tasted, like a little earthquake on her tongue; even how bitter tasted, like medicine that will make her feel happy. The best of all was the spiciness of hot chili – it made her whole body tickle with happiness. Truthfully, food was the actual thing that brought her pure, incredible joy.

Of course, her love for food made Joy a very round person. When she was 10 years old, she already weighted 76,5 kilos. But she never felt bad about this fact, in contrary – she always was pride of her fat and how it expressed her joy for eating. It was like a tattoo stating “I love life”. Floating in afterlife and looking down at her joyful corpse, she saw a real round woman with a round face, round arms, and a round tummy. And she thought it was beautiful.

So, yes, this had been by far the best way to die. Winning a coupon for the best restaurant in town, ordering her favorite dish. Honestly, she was sure that the food on this plate in front of her was the best she had ever eaten. Then, her date had made her laugh, awesomely. And then, she had choked on this one bite – this incredible bite, the perfect combination of sweet and salty; it had been crispy, but on the inside soft; the herbs and spices danced together a flawless salsa. And then, it finally had touched her throat; she normally loved the way it felt when the food slowly descended. But this time, it was different. Joy felt how the chewed food stopped halfway – it was a weird sensation she had not had before. But she did not feel panic or helplessness. She actually laughed. At the end, she died the same way as she had been born and as she had lived her whole life: joyfully.