ANGEL FOOD
by Marie Delgado Travis
I was crushed. The sky had fallen. The whole universe had caved in on me. I collapsed in an inconspicuous corner of the school cafeteria and wrung my heart out. After a few minutes of sobbing, I looked up and saw through my tears a tall student, silently supervising my misery.
Very solemnly, he pulled from his pocket a ¨Devil Dog¨ and offered to share it with me. When I sighed and shook my head sadly in response, he began singing the praises of “Devil Dogs” -- expounding their flavor, their compactness, their essence -- and, indeed, their very ¨Americanism.¨
As he ceremoniously discarded the wrapper in the trash bin and proceeded to run off to his next class, he called out, ¨And the best thing is − they're only a nickel! ¨
Since that day, I've often drowned my sorrows with ¨Devil Dogs¨ and a glass of Grade A Milk. It works beautifully. They really are devilishly good. And I didn't even get to say, ¨Thank you¨ − or more to the point, ¨Who in ... um ... heaven’s name ARE you? ¨
The above piece was written when the author was a teenager. Since then, she has had the pleasure of meeting many angels in disguise. She writes about them in English and Spanish, poetry and prose. Visit Marie's web site at www.mariedelgadotravis.com
