A Different Kind of Pea
By: Peggy Gerber
Green peas had always been Janie’s favorite vegetable, and she served them so often her family was sick of them. Every night her daughters complained, “ Mom, enough with the peas already. You need to go to rehab for your addiction.” Though Janie always took the teasing with a smile, when her green pea curry won first prize in the Top Chef cooking contest, she smugly waved the prize money in her daughters’ faces and announced, “I’m going to write a best-selling cookbook. Just you watch.” True to her word, Janie began working on her book right away.
Soon after Give Peas a Chance was published, Janie checked on the status of the book and discovered it was on the best seller list. She raced into her daughters’ bedrooms, shook them awake and gushed, “I told you so.” Later that night, Janie took her family out for a celebratory dinner and ordered a bottle of their fanciest sparkling water. She raised her glass in the air and shouted,” I owe it all to peas.”
Janie’s daughters rolled their eyes as they clinked their glasses together and toasted, “To peas, and to our crazy mother.” Inspired by her success, Janie announced, “I’m going to write a second book.”
Just as she had with her first book, Janie spent hours each day in her kitchen creating and testing recipes. She was determined to make Give Peas a Second Chance as successful as her first book. One afternoon, as Janie was about to put a pea casserole in the oven, her doctor called. He said, “Janie, I have some concerning news. Your mammogram shows you have a pea-sized growth in your left breast, and I’d like you to come in for a biopsy right away.”
Janie dropped the casserole dish on the floor and began to shake. Her mother had died of cancer, and this was her worst nightmare. She stood frozen as a statue as shards of splintered glass along with peas and potatoes scattered all over her freshly mopped floor. She then slumped down into the slimy muck and began to wail.
The next day Janie went to the hospital for a biopsy and few anxious days later learned the growth was benign. Though she was able to breathe again, she would still have to undergo major surgery to remove the pea-sized lump.
Janie’s first thought as she was waking up from the surgery was that she never wanted to see a pea again. When she returned home from the hospital, she went straight to her office and shredded her half-written cookbook, page by page. She had her daughters throw out all the peas in the house.
Sometime later, when everything was back to normal, Janie and her family were about to sit down to dinner when her daughters began to complain, “Mom, enough with the beets already. You need to go to rehab for your addiction.” Nobody laughed harder than Janie, who was already hard at work on her new book, Don’t Beet Around the Bush.
-