3am Snack

Late last night I had a long journey ahead of me. I was at a party in a part of town that's far away from where I live. Additionally, I had a bit of a walk to get to the proper subway stop. A light mist was in the air as I left the party. I made my way through the damp streets, contemplating the lengthy subway trip in my near future.

All of a sudden, about two blocks from the subway entrance, I realized that I was extremely hungry. I thought about what I might have to eat at such a late hour. There was pizza certainly, but it was out of the way and would leave me feeling queasy from too much grease. Then I remembered a little 24 grocery store up ahead.

I imagined myself going in and purchasing a small bag of Kettle Chips. I considered what flavor I might purchase. I love sea salt and vinegar, but I can tire of it after a few chips. I also like New York cheddar and herb, but I too frequently get those. Not wanting to be stuck in a rut, I made up my mind to purchase the goat cheese and roasted red pepper variety.

I walked into the store. As I passed the front counter I spotted, a ways back, a shelf brimming with potato chips of all descriptions. I headed for them. Now, I don't know exactly how it happened, but at some point I became aware of a refrigerated case to my left. Halfway to the potato chip shelf I stopped in my tracks. I took a closer look at the refrigerated case. It contained many things including, but not limited too, hummus, freshly cut fruit, salads, and preprepared sandwiches.

I was about to continue on my way, but something about the preprepared sandwiches made me hesitate. I decided to peruse the various kinds. They were all on organic 7 grain bread and many of them were meatless. I noticed a meatless "chicken" salad sandwich. Next to it I noticed a meatless "turkey" salad sandwich. After a moment I gave the "turkey" salad sandwich a poke. It didn't seem too mushy, a common pitfall of preprepared sandwiches. I picked it up and flipped it over to see the price tag. $3.49. Not too bad, I thought. I looked over the ingredients. They sounded pretty good. I glanced sheepishly in the direction of the chips before making my hasty way, sandwich in hand, to the front counter.

The employee behind the counter rang me up and I left the store, excited to try my newly acquired sandwich. Within seconds I had succeeded in removing the plastic wrap around my sandwich. I paused before taking the first bite. Something was amiss. I suddenly remembered that preprepared sandwiches are awful. I recalled with bitter clarity a number of similar sandwiches I had previously eaten. I remembered stale bread. I remembered wilted lettuce. I remembered amorphous masses of sandwich fixings, oozing with suspect mayonnaise. I grimaced at the recollection of other first bites into these kinds of sandwiches. I held the sandwich at my lips, as if it was suspended in time, not sure how to proceed.

Throwing caution to the wind I took a bite and to my immense surprise it was good. The bread was fresh and tasty, the Chinese cabbage was crispy, and the "turkey" salad itself was, if not a masterpiece, light and pleasantly spicy. I eagerly took another bite and found it equally satisfying. I reached the subway entrance.

As I descended the stairs to the platform I ate the remaining bites of the sandwich and reflected upon my good fortune.

Preprepared Meatless "Turkey" Sandwich: B+