Grapefruit

It is 6:30 a.m. Both Sohee and I woke up to her Korean Internet phone making bird calls.

"Is that a ghost?" I asked.

"It's my phone," she said. "I must have a message or something."

Sohee got up to deal with the chirping ghoul. I walked over to a plate of grapefruit. I was hungry.

"Yup," Sohee nodded, as she fiddled with the buttons on the cellular. "It's out of batteries."

"You want to go to Cheesecake Factory?" I asked her.

"It's 6:30 in the morning."

"I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry too."

Sohee put down the phone. She walked to the fridge, opened it, and then got out her soy milk.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I am heating up the soy milk."

"For two minutes?"

"It takes a long time to heat up."

I watched the dial counter go down on the microwave. I thought about stopping the microwave, so I could put a plate of leftovers in the microwave for myself, but I felt like that would be breaking some type of microwave etiquette I created in my mind, so I just waited patiently with my plate. I had put a sweet potato on there. I didn't think it needed any heating up. I put an end to my mouth and did a little taste test. It was good. It had been boiled already. I pressed the skin with my tongue, pushing the soft mash onto my tongue.

"Sweet potatoes are good," I told Sohee.

"Can you give that to me?" Sohee asked and half-pointed in my general vicinity.

"The potato?"

"No, the spoon."

"Oh, okay," I said and handed her a teaspoon on the counter. I thought about putting my plate in the microwave when the soy milk was done heating. Then I changed my mind. I figured I would just eat everything cold. I walked to my computer. I put on a little 30 Rock. I ate my grapefruit. I didn't hear the bell for the microwave ding. I just kept peeling slices of the grapefruit. I would bite a little piece off the end and stare at it. I wondered if grapefruit was always this pink.