Red hot and tangled amongst others, the carnal chilli squirmed its way out of the vegetable basket. Fiery and hot tempered it avoided the suffocated peas, hard potatoes, blushing tomatoes and finally settled next to the cool cucumber.
Often it found solace in its solitude. Broken from the bunch, avoided by the rest. Chilli didn’t want to be anywhere near the complaining others. The cucumber however, was magnetic. Sitting on the kitchen counter, making the most of every moment and not worried about its end.
Chilli always wondered if its green leaves were green enough, if its seeds were bitter and spicy enough to burn someone’s tongue, and yet if its flavour was sweet in its essence. Cucumber on the other hand sat confident and expected the world to accept it the way it was. Only because it knew no better. Infact, this was the first time it had seen one other than its kind.
Wiping remains of other juices, it rubbed shoulders with cucumber. Cucumber looks down and then looks away. In all its life, Chilli never met something so content. When Chilli made the first move to speak its voice was slightly unnerved and a little shrill. All those bitter, spicy seeds did that. And cucumbers responses were always of few words, soft spoken and low.
Soon Chilli and cucumber started discussing the fate of the others. The potatoes death at the hands of boiling hot water, the tomatoes crushed for juice, the peas finally taken out of their comforting exterior and separated from their huddle. Chilli was always animated in its expressions and cucumber listened and nodded with an expression that flirted with boredom and disinterest.
Many evenings, with the orange-purple light of the setting sun, they watched busy hands collecting the others, chopping them up and using them for flavour and decorations. And everyday Chilli wondered when would be its last day. It could feel itself ageing. Its leaves had begun to hunch and its hard red skin was starting to get soft. But inside Chilli still felt as fiery as it had from the very first day. The more nervous it got, the more Chilli talked.
At night when the lights were turned off, Chilli would fall asleep curled around Cucumbers narrow brim. And Cucumber would do all it could to pass over Chilli with some of its mellow energy. When Chilli had a bad dream, Cucumber would whisper sweet fantasies into its leaves until Chilli stopped to shuffle about and would fall into a sweet dreamless sleep.
Chilli never remembered any of this. And as the days passed Chilli started to get more disinterested in Cucumber. It was tired and bored of sharing its stories and wanted to know more about Cucumber.
What Chilli didn’t know was that Cucumber was not much of a talker. It was an absorber. It admired Chillis attitude and its enthusiasm in the world around it. And hung on to every word, every description.
Chilli had come from the vegetable market, where it had met others and had friends and experiences Cucumber could not even imagine. But Cucumber had been born and brought up in the house garden amongst others of its kind. It had no stories, no friends and no experiences. Until Chilli.
Cucumber started to feel things it had never felt before. The more Chilli withdrew into silence, the more Cucumber would feel in its chest… a strange hollow space between the seeds. Cool as it was, when Chilli would laugh and playfully touch Cucumber with its leaves, Cucumber would feel flushed. When the busy hands would come in the sunlight Cucumber would hear itself pray “not Chilli, please not Chilli”.
Cucumber didn’t know, but it was in love. And Chilli didn’t know, that Cucumbers silence was that of deep emotion. Chilli had the kind of love that everyone wants, selfless. It didn’t speak, because it wanted to listen.
Cucumbers silence broke Chillis heart.
One evening, they sat in silence looking out the window at the heavy rain and trees restraining against the strong wind. Footsteps came scurrying into the kitchen and before Cucumber knew it painted red nails snatched Chilli from its side. With a gasp, Chilli gave Cucumber one last look only to hear Cucumber scream “No! Take ME!”.
And then Chilli knew. Cucumber loved him. And with a smile on his face, and bleeding tears happily took the knife through its heart.
