twenty-five cent leeks

The bus doors clattered open, and Louise stepped out into the bright May sun, reflected tenfold from the sidewalk by her orange pumps. It was 5:08pm, and the day seemed still half-pregnant with the possibilities the morning had offered. She wanted to believe that, anyway, seeing as how all she had done today was sit at her desk at Ward Jenkins's Avian Pathology office where she answered four phone calls and filed ten papers.

Louise had not gotten off at her usual stop, which was still twenty blocks south, in order to complete a special errand: the procurement of fresh twenty-five cent leeks at E&H Local Market. She'd heard about the deal from her friend Olivia, who divulged the information on Sunday evening to her in response to Louise's complaint that she couldn't find fresh leeks anywhere in their "God forsaken neighborhood" on the north border of the cemetery, and that her cooking repertoire had suffered severely as a result (potato leek soup being, according to her friends, her best dish). "Oh yes!," Olivia had said. "Not only are they cheap, they are fresh and large and their leaves are the brightest green you've ever seen!"

Louise was still living on the high that this new and exciting information provided her, and visions of creamy potato leek soup danced in her head since she heard the news. The anticipation built as she neared E&H, now just half a block away. Holding her breath, Louise crossed the establishment's threshold which was marked by the sudden rush of air from a dusty industrial fan. Her eyes darted around, looking for that bright green bountiful pile of tender white bulbous roots.

It was then that she realized that E&H didn't sell fresh leeks. Not even old ones. Not even produce. It was then that she remembered the details of that conversation with Olivia, which had taken place in her sunlit kitchen, Louise drinking wine and leaning against the counter, and Olivia telling her about the leeks while holding her large, white, fluffy bunny rabbit which she didn't actually own, because had Louise had made it all up in her dream last night.