The Famous Pacific Dessert Company

516 North Broadway
February 16, 1996

When I was seven my brother baked a chocolate cake.
As I sat with my sisters at the kitchen table
focused on this week's episode of The Six Million Dollar Man
my brother dropped the cake on the floor.

We salvaged most of it
though it was smushed.
This started my addiction
to smushing my cake that lasted 18 years
until I realized that smushing cakes
was not mature.

This Chocolate Decadence
as it slides down my throat
brings back those happy memories
of when I smushed my cake with a fork.

I look around and I don't see other customers.
The staff is in the kitchen on the phone.
I look out the window and I don't see anyone on the sidewalk.
I only have a few bites left
I could pretend it's an accident.
I position my glass to shield strangers
from my cake smushing relapse.

I almost burst into tears.
It's not the same after a few years.
The cake tastes as disorganized as it looks.

Should I have kept it in tact?
Should I have listened to etiquette?
Of course not; I would be more disappointed
if I missed this chance.