Temptation

Temptation

by Gerald E. Greene

After selecting the fresh produce and placing it in her cart, she proceeded through the bakery toward the dairy department.

As she passed the carefully positioned displays of cupcakes and what looked like fresh blueberry muffins the sweet aroma invaded her senses.

With determination she pressed forward, refusing to waver to the right or left. She held her breath in anticipation of successfully exiting the bakery when she noticed the ‘red’ cart loaded with sale items.

Her hands remained firmly attached to the handle of her own cart as her eyes shifted from one threatening item to the next until she saw the peach pie.

I wonder how much insulin it will take? she pondered as she considered the impact of the sugar to her frail form.

“I shouldn’t,” she whispered.

Her body stiffened with determination as though facing an attack by a large man. She was resolute and unswerving, but also still standing in front of the ‘red’ source of temptation.

She felt her right hand release its grip on the handle of her cart and move toward the poisonous package. The unsteady diabetic hand crept forward and grasped the brown box with the clear top.

The pie responded to the touch and clung to the bony hand as it moved from one cart to the other, now gently resting on top of a bundle of radishes like a snake coiled in a vegetable garden.

She sighed as her hand returned to its assigned position on the handle of her cart.

And then while looking neither to the right or left, her cart inched forward as a slight smile formed in the wrinkled corners of her mouth.

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Gerald E. Greene
Gerald E. Greene writes from Dayton, Ohio. He is published in The Flash Fiction Press, Insight Magazine and Guide Magazine. He also wrote Turning Losing Forex Trades Into Winners published by John Wiley & sons, 2008. His Facebook blog is called Short Stories Rated G.

3 thoughts on “Temptation

  1. Unsettling wobbly sense of agency, from the person to body parts (hand/eye) to the box to its contents. The simile “Her body stiffened with determination as though facing an attack by a large man” stirs questions as does the contradiction in the sentence that follows. The ambiguity of the ending is doubtless intentional. . AGB

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