Dandelion Wine

First grader Jimmy Duke carried food from his mother in a vintage Star Wars lunch box that she had carried as a kid. The food inside was the usual, a tuna fish sandwich and a pickle, wrapped tightly in his square lunch box. At lunch time in the cafeteria he would set the box in front of him, try and conjure the Jedi force, open the lid, unwrap the food, take a bite of the sandwich held together by wheat bread, and spend the last few minutes of lunch pretending. He would imagine peanut butter and jelly. He would sometimes taste the strawberry on his lips and pretend he was one of them.

They carried lunch bags and boxes of all different shapes and sizes. Inside, they carried chocolate chip cookies, Doritos, yogurt covered pretzels, turkey and ham sandwiches, BLT’s, Redvines, Lunchables, egg salad, pizza, Coke and Sprite and Dr. Pepper, fruit roll ups, cheese sticks, cheese puffs, burritos, apples, bananas and much more. Every Friday, when the ice cream truck came in, they carried nickels and quarters in small sweaty hands and dollar bills rolled and stuffed into pockets. Jaime Hernandez carried a Ziploc plastic bag filled with peanuts. Zoe Fillmore carried sanitary hand wipes. Paul Rogers carried sugar free bubble gum. They carried the food their parents and grandparents packed them. They carried the food they sneaked out of the house. And when finished, they carried empty brown bags to the trashcans. They carried cartoon metal lunch boxes full of stained and sticky wrappers. They shared the weight of food digesting in their full, extended bellies.