The best pizza I ever made was in my BBQ smoker back in Idaho. I smeared a zesty tomato sauce on a dough crust, covered it with grated mozzarella cheese, Canadian bacon, bacon crumbles, sliced black olives, and pineapple tidbits. Then I placed it inside the smoker over applewood chips and charcoal. I ate the results outside, overlooking Elmira Pond and the mergansers that summered there.
Later, the Hub and I landed on Mars, which was the red-hued desert landscape of southern Utah. The local pizza parlor had all the right fixings but no IPA beer. It wasn’t until then that I realized I preferred my pizza with IPA. I spent the remainder of my time in Utah, dreaming of beer and pizza.
I’m not really a pizza connoisseur. I remember my mom being the one who loved pizza, and a special trip across the border into Nevada as a child might mean getting to order pizza at Sharkey’s. She’d be sure to box up what we didn’t eat because she loved cold pizza for breakfast. That’s not something I picked up from her.
The Hub had his favorite place to go in his hometown. I’d order linguisa (Portuguese sausage) and jalapenos on my half, and he’d add mushrooms and black olives on his. It’s been so many years since I’ve had linguisa on a pizza I can’t remember why I liked it so much. These days, we like a thin crust Mediterranean pizza from downtown.
Well, not these new days, although I hear you can still order delivery.
Pizza sounds normal to me right now. Maybe it’s not food my body needs, but my mind takes comfort in its familiarity. They say apple pie is all-American. I’d say it’s a pizza pie, that is. It doesn’t matter what style, America loves pizza. Is that sentiment universal? Are there other foods that are pizza-like?
It’s been another strange week. I went for a walk last night as the setting sun lingered late, and the cold air bit at my face. The snow has pulled away from the curbs, melting more and more each day. Last weekend it rained, cleansing the grit of winter that accumulates. I have still not adjusted to walking dog-less. I turned off Roberts Street, and in my mind’s eye, I could see Bobo pulling ahead like she did our final walk together in a snowstorm.
Our dogs loved pizza crust. I think they would have loved pizza slices, but they were never offered the sampling. I’m not fond of the crust, so I was known to slip it to them. One of our daughter’s dogs, a rescue, must have tasted pizza because he’d bark at us any time we brought one home, demanding a slice.
Today, I met up with my daughter online in a video chat room for her work. She’s working from home, including teaching dance classes. I got to work with her officially, using her as my Michigan Tech source to find a contact for an article I wrote. She’s a science writer in the university’s marketing department, the director of research news. I needed a researcher to talk to about facemasks.
In three days, I interviewed five people, researched primary sources like the CDC and WHO, quoted a tweet from John Hopkins Center for Health Security, located public domain photos, arranged a photoshoot through my livingroom window, and wrote a 2,000-word article originally called, Covering Our Faces in the Keweenaw. Tonight I spent the evening back and forth with my editor, fact-checking and clarifying.
It’s an exciting article for several reasons. First, we are keeping pace with national reporting on facemasks. Second, it’s my way to get involved with my Keweenaw Strong community that has once again come together in a crisis. This time, though, we are all keeping our distances. We have local sewists teaming with local industry.
The sewing circles are working hard to prepare our area hospitals (we have four) and nursing homes for a surge in COVID-19. People are sewing 10,000 masks for medical workers and the medically vulnerable. Local industry is manufacturing aluminum pieces to go into the top of the mask to shape it to cover a person’s nose. Michigan Tech is using their labs to 3D-print face shields to go over the masks, as well as ventilators and other medical devices.
Because we are all under stay at home orders, sharing materials shows innovation, too. Tech is considered essential, but they are supported by those like my daughter, who are coordinating communication from home. The sewists have set up drop off boxes at essential businesses or porch delivery systems, coordinating with those who are traveling for essential reasons. My neighbor sits alone in her closed sewing machine store, working eight hours a day, making facemasks.
The Michigan Police caught wind of the efforts and requested facemasks for their officers in colors that match their uniforms. The sheriff’s department requested brown. This morning I saw my mail carrier drop off mail, wearing one of my neighbor’s masks. We are covering our faces and sharing the mantra: Protect you; protect me; protect the community.
If you are interested in the open-source designs, go to Maker Hub. Open-source is a system of creating new items such as facemasks to share freely and to encourage makers to improve upon the designs. It’s a massive collaboration of engineers, researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. The sewing circles are doing what they’ve probably have always done throughout time — collaborate to help protect their community, one stitch at a time.
American ingenuity is as amazing as pizza pie.
April 2, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes pizza. It can be an original pizza pie (or slice) or something pizza-like. Go where the prompt leads!
Respond by April 7, 2020. Use the comment section below to share, read, and be social. You may leave a link, pingback, or story in the comments. If you want to be published in the weekly collection, please use the form. Rules & Guidelines.
Submissions closed. Find our latest weekly Flash Fiction Challenge.
Pizza Exchange by Charli Mills
Rosa lived with her parents in a single-wide behind the barn. Her mama hummed as she pounded tortillas and mashed a fresh pot of simmering pinto beans. After school, Rosa often went to the big house to study with Becky Ainsworth. That’s where she tasted frozen mini pizzas that left an essence of cardboard in Rosa’s mouth. One Friday, Becky suggested studying at Rosa’s home. Quickly she whispered to her mama, “Becky likes pizza.” Her mama smiled, and fried two corn tortillas crisp and flat, adding mashed pintos, olives, and queso. Becky’s eyes widened. “Best pizza ever,” she said.
I love making my own pizzas. It something I learned from my dad. He was a very good bread maker, and while I can also make my own bread, if I make a bread dough it usually ends up as pizza. And cold pizza for breakfast is the greatest thing. I might include an excerpt from My Life in Darkness where Melissa is eating cold pizza for breakfast much to the disgust of her vampire girlfriend, which is a very common experience I encounter when I tell people I love cold pizza for breakfast.
Melissa is very much based on me…
My mom would love you! Good that your dad taught you how to make pizzas. It’s an art. I buy store-bought crust.
Cold pizza is one thing… but don’t eat frozen pizza you might get a case of the ‘Grizzlies’… for three days you think your gonna keel and the next three you wish you did… 😀
Oh, that sounds like misery, Jules!
The pizza world is divided into two groups; those who see pineapple on a pizza as an abomination and those for whom there is a special place in hell. 🙂
I don’t know if you watch the TV show, The Good Place, but in The Bad Place, they only serve pineapple pizza. 😉
That’s such a fun show. I haven’t seen much of it, but enough to appreciate.
Ha! I’m in a weird neutral ground because I’ll allow it on the “other” half and I can’t imagine many would appreciate the jalapenos that I love.
Hahahaha! I agree.
[…] This weeks prompt was pizza provided by the Carrot Ranch April 2 Flash Fiction Challenge. […]
Here’s mine: https://jedigirlblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/04/cold-pizza-for-breakfast-flash-fiction/
Cold pizza and flat Coca Cola: best memories from my college days.
Yum!
I used to love flat Coke. Rarely drink pop or soda nowadays.
Same here! Probably better as a memory than a reality. Ha!
Just like my mom, and I reacted like Astrid! 😀
Love the amount of people sewing masks and helping out (teaching dancing online is an amazing thing to do right now for people’s physical and mental health so bravo to your daughter). 🙂 🍕
So nice to get a story in this week! Thanks for the prompt, Charli!
https://sarahbrentynflash.wordpress.com/2020/04/03/only-pepperoni/
This community, like communities around the world, are pulling together. Our local yoga studio is also offering free 20-minute sessions on Instagram. I’ve “sat in” on a few! 🙂
Happy to see a story from you! Gladd pizza could be of inspiration.
[…] Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch […]
A haibun then. Five years ago April 2nd. Time flies. Things change.
Your son-in-law brought pizzas up and we ate, some at the cluttered table, some sitting cheek to cheek on the sofa that was also my bed. Your grandchildren clambered or were passed around your crowded apartment, one teething on a crust. I remembered our stories for you and for your family.
We took turns laying with you, that even in your sleep, fitful as the late spring snow, you felt us near. You wouldn’t die alone.
spring veiled gray mourning
rain raked windows rattle cold
wind keens shrill and sharp
unsettled birds fly scattered
like everything we once knew
Up there with your best.
Thank you. (The writing’s a might better polished at my site.)
But it’s a true story and it’s a raw April again and this winter/spring others will lose loved ones and they will not have this crowded house experience.
I did a verse too… but with some humor.
I’ve been trying to read some good news stories everyday… and hope that one day we’ll be able to look back with relief that we can once again be so grouped to show those we care about the comfort of ‘touch’.
Bittersweet and beautiful!
I’ve read this poignant post a number of times. Beautiful and woven so well…
This took me by surprise. Anniversaries are mighty hard to write and yet you balanced it so well with grief and grace and, well, pizza. <3
As soon as I saw the prompt, I knew what I was going to write – but my post schedule meant it has to wait until Sunday! Alas! But hopefully this time I remembered to submit it to the collection. 😉
Anyway, it’s really sad that so many places are closed, both for the workers and the consumers. I have faith everything will pop back to life soon after the pandemic wanes because people will want to participate in the economy ASAP. At that point, we’ll definitely start with pizza – America’s true love.
H., I like the idea of a restart with pizza! The level of innovation I’m seeing just in my small community gives me such hope for the world. No one wants tragedy or a crisis, but it does reveal our humanity and creativity.
Thanks for remembering! 🙂
I love what you and your connections are doing for your community. I have mad respect for those who can sew – not a skill I have or have interest in. But I definitely appreciate it.
Pizza – now there’s something I can talk about! I love it. I love it in so many ways. We make our own here at home – The Hub is in charge of that and we call it “Dad pizza.” We usually use Naan bread for that and go to town on our own personal topping choices. I’m with your mom on the leftovers for breakfast. Absolutely. I even have my preferences as to which pizza place has the best for breakfast. It really depends a lot on crust and sauce ratio where leftovers are concerned. 😀
Pizza is indeed comforting. We braved the delivery world last weekend for a pizza fix – twice! It was just what we needed. This week I’m going to try making my own yeast-free crust because…no yeast to be had in the last few weeks. This should prove interesting.
Lisa, you know your pizza! Maybe a yeast-free crust would be like a flatbread pizza. I like the idea of top-your-own, too. Over the weekend, I saw that one of our local Italian restaurants opened for pick-up just one night.
The sewing circles are going full force. I don’t have a single sewing skill to claim. I did my part writing about it. They have my respect, too.
[…] Carrot Ranch fiction […]
Think I went a bit weird there!
https://butismileanyway.com/2020/04/03/april-2-flash-fiction-challenge-pizza/
Go where the prompt leads, Ritu! These are weird times so who knows how we’ll process.
😃
[…] April 2: Flash Fiction Challenge […]
Thanks, Reena!
Here’s mine Charli
We’d only just met and it was my turn to cook. He had cooked me the most wonderful liver and bacon with onion gravy, cabbage, and mashed potatoes.
There wasn’t much in the cupboard………. a tin of tuna, an onion, some mushrooms, a tomato and some cheese.
I made a pastry base, cooked it blind, then sliced the tomato and mushrooms really thin,
chopped the onion and mixed that with the tuna fish and spread it on the top, then covered the lot in grated cheese and finished it off in the oven.
Perfect……. the out of nothing Pizza!
Tuna on pizza … hmm, that would be different. Might just try it one day.
it worked!
Scallops, clams, lobster I’ve had on pizza. Why not tinned tuna?
all I could find in the cupboard that day!
Hi Di! Good to see you! Well, I think with spreading it out and covering it with cheese, It could be just fine. He discovered your creative side. 😉
Been a while Charli. Hope you and the team are good. It tasted OK, though we have discovered ham, mushroom and pineapple since (Hawaiian I think they call it)
Yes, Hawaiian pizza! The Hub’s favorite. Locals were telling me to try the potato pizza at an old-time supper club. All is well, thank you! <3
[…] time again for the 99 word challenge from Carrot Ranch. The April 2, 2020, prompt? In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes pizza. It can be an original pizza […]
Like so much of my writing, this flash is slice of memory. And in these wretched COVIDIAN-19 times, what I wouldn’t give for deliverance…
In Pizza Parlance
“Anchovies!”
“Huh?”
“You heard me.”
“Context would help.”
“What’s your problem? You think I’m speaking in tongues?”
“Pshaw! I didn’t say that. Now that you mention it, what were you speaking in?”
“Lips. I was speaking in lips.”
“Lips are pretty close to tongues. Either way, you’ve lost me.”
“I’ll start again. When I say anchovies, it only means one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Pizza. Papa Dave’s pizza.”
“Don’t know it.”
“It was from before. My old life in the city.”
“Life’s often about loss.”
“No one should have to lose the best pizza ever.”
“Yeah. Anyways, finish your porridge.”
http://www.engleson.ca
Yeah, this prompt and responses have me Jonesing for pizza. One that I don’t make, but it’ll have to be me. Good think I’ve got my trusty sourdough for crust.
I love the word, Jonesing. Hadn’t heard it before…
No? Jonesing might be a late 70’s drug culture word. Also made famous on that memorable 8track by Cheech & Chong featuring the song “Basketball Jones”.
Snicker, snicker, I remembering listing to Cheech & Chong eight-tracks. I should have charged the neighborhood teens a quarter each.
Even a slice of memory seems full and rich these days, reminding us when we moved about with ease. Now we speak in texts. The prridge feel like an unsung constant thought. Stable staple. For now.
[…] Written for the Carrot Ranch Challenge. […]
Yep. We’re right there now.
{Boom!}
Thanks, Paula!
wonderful job with the masks; will we be able to read the article that you are writing about masks? the pizza prompt is certainly an intriguing one!
Thanks, Jim! Yes, I’ll link to the article this next challenge post. I have three other topics I’m researching and all have to do with community innovation. Lots of good pizza stories rolling in!
look forward to reading your article, and the pizza stories!
I’m in awe of you and your community. I don’t have a sewing machine to help out with the masks, but will check out the site. Just in case there’s anything I could help with. However, I have been using my intentions and knowledge of energy medicine to offer people in need remote healing #Mentalhealth.
My take on your fun prompt: https://abracabadra.blogspot.com/2020/04/pizza-night.html
Something like this could go viral! Fantastic idea!
Ruchira, I’m in awe of the sewists, too. I have a friend locally who is a grief counselor and she’s been wanting to help, too but also does not sew. She thinks it’s important to just be for now and that she’ll get called in the help further along. Just as you will, too! For now, hold them in the light. Thank you!
[…] for Fiction Challenge […]
https://joem18b.wordpress.com/2020/04/03/new-invention/
A slice of history.
Thanks for the history lesson!
You live in a vital community–sounds like you landed in the best place, meant to be.
And “cold pizza for breakfast”? I think I would like your mom!!
And, my mom’s tribe gathers…
I’m grateful for having landed here and for getting fast-tracked into the community through the veterans. They are doing incredible things at the university labs even though the school is closed. These are the local researchers who live here and are racing against time to find ways to protect us all.
You had to know this was coming, Charli 😉
War and Pizza Store Menu
PETA special – Contains no animal products but please note that wheat screams when it’s harvested.
Four Seasons – Perfect for the procrustinator
Meet Lovers – Could be anything but comes PDQ
Blonde – Toasted open sandwich (they’ll never know)
Neapolitan – Ice-cream pizza you can spoon
Deep dish – Intellectuals special
Frutti di mare – Italian for pretentious
Viagra – No droop, all satisfaction
Hawaiian – Take-away only, for the benefit of sensitive in-house diners
Carbonara – For that burnt crust taste
Pizza Cake – Easy combination of main and dessert
Aussie – with a dozen eggs, half a pig, beetroot, tomato sauce and attitude
OCD – exactly 17 olives
Love it, Doug!
Ha! All good!
You served up an entertaining menu! Fantastic!
[…] Carrot Ranch April 2, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes pizza. It can be an original pizza pie (or slice) or something pizza-like. Go where the prompt leads! Respond by April 7, 2020. […]
Charli,
There are many communities pulling together to make face masks. I spoke with someone who said they knew of another family that took in take out three nights a week in order to help small restaurants. Pizza is something I like to make in house with different crusts from the store. I’ve started using a Naan bread. It is nice though when one gets pizza in – May there come a time soon when we can celebrate as groups at our favorite places.
I had some fun combining this prompt and perhaps stretching (like our favorite cheese toppings…) the truth here:
With the Assistance of a Lyre…
Each member of the choir held their quire
As the dire driver of the van spun in the mud his tyre in the mire
They were late, nearing the wire
Of the time their pizza was to come out of the stone oven’s fire…
Hoping no ill wrath from Meyer the sire of the shire
it truly was their sole desire
to put on a heavenly performance lead by their sprier Pryor
once known as the shyer, friar Dwyer
After downing all their slices, neatly in their elegant attire
It was with relief they raised their sated voices higher!
©JP/dh
Pryor is a name of ancient Norman origin. … It is a name for a monastic official immediately subordinate to an abbot having derived from the Old English word prior, meaning superior, and indicates that the original bearer of the name held this position.
Endirely hilarious!
Wow, funny and brilliant!
BTW (at my post ) are some of the rhyming words and:
quire = four sheets of paper or parchment folded to form eight leaves, as in medieval manuscripts; any collection of leaves one within another in a manuscript or book. “the scribe numbered the quires of his manuscript as well as the leaves” and 25 (formerly 24) sheets of paper; one twentieth of a ream.
Your poesy here, I fully admire!
That flash is on fire.
You truly are the Poet Lariat. 😉
T’was penning verse before I got into flash fiction… Sometimes it works 😉
Verse is just shorter stories 😀
True! I think I went the opposite route with my verse.
And thankfully, the music raised no ire in the shire! What a fun poem, Jules! That’s good of your neighbors who can help by ordering take-out.
[…] April 2: Flash Fiction Challenge […]
Thanks, Anita!
[…] https://carrotranch.com/2020/04/03/april-2-flash-fiction-challenge-2/This week’s carrot ranch prompt has inspired a return of the two latter day philosophers, Morgan and Logan […]
Thanks, Geoff!
[…] The following short was written in response to a flash fiction challenge over at Carrot Ranch. […]
Charli, you live in such a wonderful community!
Now about pizza and dogs … Maggie and Bruce both loved pizza, the crust or the entire slice, not that they got a slice to themselves very often but on occasion. We’d only have to say the word pizza and Maggie would wag her tail and sit waiting for it to be delivered or for us to go out and get it. The vocabulary she had was truly amazing. Anyways my flash this week is actually true but it’s the first thing that came to mind when I saw this week’s prompt.
http://susansplace.blog/2020/04/05/did-someone-say-pizza/
Aw, what a precious memory of those two! I wonder why dogs love pizza so much? Funny that Maggie knew the word! Smart dog.
Maggie actually had quite a large vocabulary for a dog 🙂 She was truly amazing.
In photos, I can see both dogs had deep souls and bright minds.
[…] Carrot Ranch Prompt (04/02/2020): In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes pizza. It can be an original pizza pie (or slice) or something pizza-like. Go where the prompt leads! […]
For those special evening’s in, of which we are having so many, these days 😉
Romantic Evening in Quarantine
“How long ago did you order that pizza?” Sheralynn tipped her wine glass to catch the last drop.
“Hmmm?” Rodney examined the hole in his tube sock, intent on covering up his big toe without using his hands.
“And did you get half pineapple and veggie for me, half megameat for you?”
Resigned to having to use one foot to clothe the other, he didn’t answer.
“Rodney! I know it’s Shutdown, but it’s been 2 ½ hours now!”
“What? Do you need more wine?”
“No! When did you order the pizza?!”
“I didn’t do it,” he sighed. “Didn’t you?”
https://valleyofthetrolls.blog/2020/04/05/romantic-evening-in-quaratine/
Oh no! I imagine couples divorcing for less in these hard times. ;-0
The struggle is real! 😉
Oh. No. He didn’t!
Can this marriage be saved?
Only The Shadow knows, and he’s munching on pizza…uh…in the shadows.
Ha, ha! Liz, I know, we are having so many evenings in, too! Just in time for what should be cabin-fever-relief. Your story captures the deteriorating minds captive inside for too long.
“Deteriorating minds” describes what I find so amusing these days. 🤣
oops… a communication breach.
I think the Shadow needs to intervene. 🙂
Mmm, essence of cardboard! Reminds me of a friend asking a teenager whether she could cook, and being highly impressed when the teenager said she cooked pizza. Oh, how do you make pizza, asked my friend. Well, began the youngster, I’ll take it out of the box …
Maybe that would have made a better 99-word story than the one I’ve gone for, although it is based on a scene from my novel Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home.
It’s here with my post on finding echoes of our current crisis as I edit my novel https://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/2020/04/discovering-interesting-echoes-of-our-current-crisis-as-i-edit-my-novel.html
Always an interesting read over there.
PS, I quite liked your e-book, Somebody’s Daughter. I scarfed that down in one sitting like slices of pizza right out of the box.
Thanks you. I suppose I need to send you some real pizza next.
My son’s class (8th grade) had to make something nutritious and take pictures. So many of them wrote recipes that read “open the package of..”
Oops, accidentally posted this in a reply to no-e Anne instead of you. Great piece, Anne. As a former social worker (there, I’ve outed myself), been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. 😉
I have an inbuilt detector for health and social care staff, so had already noticed what you were behind the scenes. I hope Janice is a good representative of that stalwart profession, although she does have significant flaws that could get her into trouble.
I’m not surprised you have scars. SWs are often scapegoated for meddling too much or too little. I’m sure you deserve your retirement.
Thanks, Anne. Deserved or not, I’m taking it 😉
Ha, ha! That’s a fun story, Anne. I think of many in my era as the first latch-key kids who learned to “cook” in such a manner.
How interesting to find hints of our current situation in your novel edits. However, I think as writers we process what we observe and experience, but time often brings details to life. I think that is a hallmark of a classic — finding those universal truths.
Yes, bits of the world repeat themselves and mutate in all kinds of ways, all kinds of places.
There are times when you need to listen to get it right.
Sticky Pudding
By Ann Edall-Robson
His granddaughter was right on time for her Thursday afternoon visit. Spending time with her was the highlight of his week. They’d catch up on family gossip, play cards, or work on a puzzle. Like every Thursday, she had called before she came, to see if he needed anything. Today, he had asked her to bring some pizza for their snack.
Lifting the lid he shook his head, “What’s this?”
“Your favourite, sticky pudding, I brought ice cream to spiff it up. ”
“I asked for pizza.”
She laughed as she hugged her granddad.
“I thought you said some pizzaz.”
https://www.annedallrobson.com/99-words/sticky-pudding
Pizzaz pales when you had your tummy-heart set on pizza.
Isn’t that the truth?
Great piece, Anne. As a former social worker (there, I’ve outed myself), been there, done that, got the scars to prove it. 😉
Thanks, Doug. You’ll find the ranch sometimes has us talking about ourselves without realizing it.
He’s a lucky grandad nonetheless — those visits are enough to give an old-timer weekly life pizzaz. Funny misinterpretation!
“Kid! What’re ya doin’? Why’s thet little whip of a poet tree all caged in here behind the Saloon?”
“Fer its own pertection, Pal. I got a bunch a kids!”
“Kids, Kid? Wish ya’d leave thet to someone responsible an’ sensible, like Aussie.”
“Not kids, Pal, kids, baby goats!”
“Goats? Ya got ta be kidding.”
“Zactly. Gonna raise ‘em up fer milk goats. Make cheese.”
“Oh, doe yer not, Kid. Ya’d think ya’d been ranchin’ long ‘nough ta know ta look fer certain credentials, if ya know what I mean. These are billies, Silly.”
“Buck! No goat cheese pizza!”
No goat cheese shall pass to Shorty. Just sayin’ — Shorty mighta been traumatized by licking a goat during the goat-tying rodeo runs. But kids are cute.
… but some great roasts coming up 😉
Kid roasts?
[…] had a hankering to answer Carrot Ranch‘s […]
Thanks, Chelsea!
I hadn’t even heard of pizza let alone tasted it before Pizza Hut opened here in the early 70s. It is a very popular takeaway here. We have it occasionally, a couple of times a year. I have but don’t often make it. I’d choose pineapple and omit the olives for mine.
I love the way the people of the Keweenaw band together. What a wonderful mantra: ‘Protect you. Protect me. Protect Community.’ I like that. Over here they say, ‘We’re all in this together’. It frustrates me because some definitely are not.
I enjoyed your flash with Rosa and Becky. I can certainly do without that cardboard pizza too. Mama’s sounds much tastier.
You can have the pineapple on your half Norah, and I’ll keep the olives on mine. Pizza has a global reach, then. And the boxed stuff is not worth sharing, though many kids grow upon it.
Our community, for the most part, is staying in, but I think it’s hardest on younger people or those who need face to face socializing. Some just don’t seem to think it matters to them personally. But in the US, they are starting to report more deaths among younger ages.
The situation in the US is tragic. So many affected, and that’s not just those with the virus — families torn apart with fear and grief. We seem to be getting things under control here but it’s hard to accept the restrictions when there is no one we know with the virus. But if we keep going about, when we do know of someone, it will be too late. It’s a bit like most other situations in life — everyone thinks the rules apply to everyone else but not them.
Thanks for the pineapple on my pizza. Sweet!
Um that particular name brand pizza… to a traditionalist is well… not real pizza. But I guess it would do if one had nothing else.
I’m not really a pizza snob. But being of Italian heritage sauce and cheese on cardboard might be a better alternative.
I’ve heard that, Jules. But the real thing wasn’t available here either. Enjoy the real deal! 🙂
😀
Hi Charli, My grandson goes to a private school and has pizza for lunch probably three times a week, from a wood-fired oven no less. We probably have it twice a month and like the same toppings. I do indulge and occasionally get a Mexican pizza like Mama in your flash made. Yummy. The quilt shops are doing the mask sewing organizing in my area and now the CDC has recommended everyone should wear masks when not able to social distance, the sewing has ramped up. It is indeed strange times…
Pizza Memories
At Tessa’s parents, Michael said, “This pizza is better than what I remember from high school.”
“Who remembers that far back?”
“I do. I came in one day and saw three pizza boxes on the counter. My mouth started watering, but I couldn’t smell them so I peeked in a box and it held quilt blocks. The other two boxes had the same. My hopes were dashed.”
They laughed at the visual.
Tessa added, “We now have square plastic boxes with handles to carry blocks in, but back then an unused pizza box was gold and hard to get.”
Poor Michael. Nothing against quilting, but a let down when you’re thinking pizza.
A wood-fired oven! Oh, that is the best kind of pizza. I would love to have Mexican pizza but somehow, we end up ordering his/her halves. Maybe I need to sneak a call out, lol.
While I was working on the article, I kept watching for the CDC to make their change — we knew it was coming but not when. I felt like a real journalist for a few days! I have more stories to cover the human angle. I’m not at all surprised to learn the quilt shops are leading the charge.
Your story made me laugh for two reasons — the pizza box for quilt squares, and the recall to high school. The Hub often recalls things that I don’t keep in my brain box!
I’m glad I could make you laugh. Much needed these days.
Fogot to tell you, my hub read the Wolf in the Whale and loved it. Our eyes are more open.
Flirting
Business was booming. I zoomed down the open road, pockets bulging with tips. My knitted face-mask hung at my chin as I sang along with The Police.
“Don’t Stand So Close To Me.”
Last house. I started up the stairs when a voice rattled through the intercom.
“Please set the pizza on the porch.”
Sure. The order was prepaid, came with a generous tip. I turned to leave when someone inside rapped on the window. A masked girl, with sandy blonde hair and a gorgeous set of hazel eyes. She gave me a thumbs up.
“Nice mask.”
“You too.”
I’m glad there was still the impetus to flirt.
Such an upbeat and hopeful tale of quarantined love, Pete.
[…] Feeding the Soul Source: Flash Fiction Challenge Prompt: Write a story that includes pizza. Word count: 99 […]
Thanks, Jo!
I thought I posted mine yesterday. In case I did not, here it is again,
Corona Dreams
Back in Maryland after being gone ten years, what he missed most was the food that had comforted him as a child. The friend he had come to see asked, “So what do you want to do first?”
“I want Ledo’s pizza. I don’t want take out. I want to sit in the joint and eat it.
“You got it”, his friend said, “Ledos, here we come”.
Sipping beer and catching up, his mind was more about the pizza than the conversation. He saw a waiter headed their direction……..
“Hey, wake up. The kids want frozen pizza for diner.”
__________________________________
https://lostinthebozone.blogspot.com/2020/04/corona-dreams.html
Sometimes the WordPress gremlins bite. They must have liked the pizza in the dream. Thanks for reposting MRMcrum!
[…] Prompted from Carrot Ranch’s Flash Fiction Challenge at: https://carrotranch.com/2020/04/03/april-2-flash-fiction-challenge-2/. […]
Thanks, Dave!
Dad used to bring pizza home as a treat. Never in my entire life have I eaten a pizza that good.
One day, it stopped, I asked, “Why?”
“There was a roach on his counter.”
I used to get up in the wee hours, looking for something to snack on. The moment I hit the light switch, a crowd of roaches scattered away to their hiding place. Dad refused to believe me.
When you live in Florida, you have roaches waiting in your walls, your yard, or just outside your door.
That day, I learned the meaning of hypocrisy.
Growing up in a more arid (read, few bugs) environment, I’d not adjust well. But what a great way to show hypocrisy. We can see another’s one cockroach but not the fleet of our own. Well done, Joelle.
Thanks. 🙂
[…] Click here to join other writers participating in the challenge. […]
I only wish my partner liked pizza, Charli. I love the stuff, but I’ve never been able to eat a whole one. And I don’t fancy eating it cold for breakfast. Your mum’s liking for cold pizza reminded me of a neighbour who liked eating leftover Indian takeaway for breakfast. But I guess we all have our own tastes.
Lovely to see all the different communities coming together at this time of crisis. And I was thrilled to read you have a ‘Roberts’ street in your neighbourhood.
I’ve missed the deadline for my submission, but here it is anyway.
https://hughsviewsandnews.com/2020/04/08/pizza-flashfiction/
Stay safe.
Yes! I’m glad to find someone else who doesn’t like cold pizza, Hugh. I’m now reminded how much I miss Indian Food. We get it a few times of year when the Indian Cultural Club prepares food for campus events. And sadly, no Naruz this year with Iranian food. I think I’m just missing all the foods I don’t have right now, but we certainly have plenty.
Ha! One day, you and your partner should come to stay in the Rodeo Room on Roberts Street!
[…] prompt this week from Carrot Ranch is to write about pizza. Truth? I think pizza is just okay, certainly not what I would request for […]