One lunch I had tofu spread with pickles while sitting next to the bouncing seat I loaned Lisa. I loaned it to her for her infant Benjamin, but every time I come over which is at least once a week a forty-five minute drive each way since he was born, I strap David in and feed him his lunch, so he doesn't trawl French toast crumbs all over the floor or drip liquid peas and rice or actually so I don't have to feed him in my lap, the tiny spoon hunting for a mouth I can't see, and my sandwich rarely reaching my mouth.

It's one of those healthy sandwiches that doesn't actually make me want to undo all those low calories with a large brownie. I like the chewy high fiber bread. I like the tang of the tofu spread—a concoction pretending to be egg salad. And I love the pickles. I've always loved the sour and salt of pickles.

I actually chewed reasonably slowly given that I was feeding David, and waiting for Benjamin in the bouncy seat next to David to get fussy enough for me to get off the floor, wash my hands, bend over to unbuckle him praying my back didn't give out, gently lift him out cooing and bouncing all the way, and get him into the sling before Lisa felt compelled to leave the bathtub.

Lisa was in the bathtub because I insist she go take a bath when I show up. Not because she smells. She probably does but I wouldn't notice given my lack of shower and the milk souring on my pant legs. It's the healing thing. She just had a baby and she's supposed to bathe four times a day. Uh huh. Four times a day when she is home alone with a baby under a month.

She left the tub while I was washing my hands. I moved on to the carrots, which for once I had taken the time to prepare. I saved the apple and the diet chocolate mint bar for the ride home. I know--diet bar, yuch! Fake sugar and chemicals, so tasty and so bad for me in the long run.

I hope Margaret Mason has something to say about it. I hope she cares.