Love Is Red Read Online Free PDF Page B

whichsays “half” but has twice the calories of other kinds of milk, and milk that has vitamin A, and milk that has vitamin D, and milk that has vitamin B 12 , and milk that has extra calcium, and milk that has vitamins A, D, B 12 , and extra calcium added to it. There’s organic nonhomogenized milk, ultra-pasteurized milk and enriched low-fat milk, 1% and 2% and nonorganic milk and fat-free milk and hemp milk and creamy nondairy lactose-free beverages that look like milk and taste like milk and are used in place of milk but are not milk.
    The third girl wasn’t that into milk anyway.
    The third girl loved kale chips. They were really expensive but worth it. The vegan cheese kind was her favorite. “Vegan cheese” meant that it wasn’t even cheese. She always thought this was funny because she wasn’t a vegan. She wasn’t even a vegetarian. “I’m not a vegetarian,” she used to say, “but sometimes I date them.” The vegan cheese kale chips were so good that she thought the vegans must have put something in the chips to convert her. She did once have a vegetarian boyfriend who had first introduced her to the love of kale, also seitan. “Are you Seitan?” she had asked him. It was only half a joke. He hadn’t been kind. This was one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him. She had told her friends afterward that although vegetarians might be thoughtful toward animals they are cruel to women. “Look at Hitler,” she had said. She had only said this once, though, because that was really a little too dark, and she had a ton of Jewish friends.
    Unsalted mixed nuts, salted cashews, unsalted cashews, honey-roasted cashews, natural pine nuts, soy nuts, raisin-and-nut mix, sesame crunch mix, rocky mountain mix, natural berry mix, natural ultimate mix, yogurt deluxe mix, omega-3 mix,healthy chocolate mix, Cajun hot mix, fantastic fruit mix, Turkish apricot mix, yogurt cranberry mix, milk-chocolate-covered peanuts, dark-chocolate-covered peanuts, dark-chocolate-covered almonds, milk chocolate almonds, dried blueberry and strawberry mix, cranberry explosion mix.
    On the rare occasions when the third girl actually shopped here she bought a container of dried strawberries. She liked strawberries but she really loved freeze-dried strawberries because they reminded her of the freeze-dried ice cream fad when she was at school. She remembered learning that astronauts ate it, and when she had a piece she imagined herself weightless, floating and gazing down at Earth. It had a forbidden and scientific taste, milky and chalky sweet. Her mother never bought it for her. She remembered her first piece, taken from a friend’s packet. Her friend’s mother bought more junky kind of snacks. Her friend’s parents were divorced. Now the third girl would place each freeze-dried strawberry on her tongue, letting it fizzle and soften and become itself again. She tried to go slow because the bag is never as full as it should be, but often she ended up eating it too quickly, her fingertips pink with powder.
    You didn’t have a cart the day you met the third girl. You don’t have one now. Carts are unwieldy. You can’t follow anyone properly. One of the best things about following someone who doesn’t know she’s being followed is the exquisite feeling of control. It tastes smooth and cool, like sucking a mint during a play, like a secret.
    The third girl didn’t know she was being watched. She thought she was the one watching you. She watched as you helped a sweet old lady pick a box of tea down from a great height. She watched how you then moved away. She watched you not being solicitousor smug, just efficiently helpful. She watched the way you joked with James behind the counter as he served you a helping of pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and feta cheese.
    Cranberry, Cranberry Cocktail, Cranberry Pomegranate, Cranberry