#rip rice

today, the unthinkable happened. i had been sweating over a hot stove for half an hour, and my dinner was almost ready. my rice was cooked to perfection: moist, but not soggy; soft, but with just the right amount of firmness, never straying into chewy territory. i started to drain the rice in the sink, lid balanced on the side of the pot, as i had done so many times before. i got complacent, that is clear to me now. i thought i was too clever, i thought - and you may call it hubris if you will - that misfortune only befell those who did not have the wits or skill that i arrogantly believed myself to have. i see now that i was wrong. i am just another mortal, a speck in the cosmic order, and my worst fears too shall be realised - and why should i have expected any different? as shakespeare once wrote, ‘as flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods. they kill us for their sport.’ 

you know how this story ends. i cannot see you, but a fear such as this is universal, and i fancy i can almost feel you shudder as you realise what horror i experienced today. some may chastise me for writing what happened so plainly. ‘there is enough darkness in the world’, they will say, ‘without you dragging it into the open for all to see’. but i feel compelled to warn others, not so that they may avoid what they fear, for i now see that this is an impossible and foolish hope, but so they will accept it, refuse to let it consume them, and face it head on when it comes to them.