Having escaped the chopping board, chilli seeds lay scattered amongst bottles of rice vinegar, rice wine, tamari and honey.
I hold out a spoon of sauce. ‘Too sweet?’
Peter closes his mouth around it. Then his lips burst open, and he grabs a glass.
‘Too hot?’ Smiling, I dab my eye. The burn!
Afterword
The mission was to write a story of exactly 53 words about ‘balance’.
Short scenes played out in my head when I thought about balance. Of a tightrope walker with no safety net, the full attention of the crowd on him or her. Of a kid learning to ride their bike, asking when they’ll have their training wheels removed. etc
But, I knew I wanted to explore a different use of the word – thus, balance of flavours, balance of sweetness and of heat.
I would have liked more words to flesh out the ending – but then, it’s flash fiction, so of course I would’ve. Have you ever rubbed your eye after cutting up chillies (or onion)? I hope not.
Photo attribution: thanks to Aliona Gumeniuk on Unsplash.