Jane ambles along the deli counter. Her hand hovers over the aged cheddar, pulls back when she sees the price. Food stamp benefits are too thin for crumbly quality.
She continues down the counter, finally spotting the family-size processed “cheese food” at the end, smiling in spite of her resignation. Its chemical composition may indeed be one molecule away from plastic but along with being affordable, it’s a taste of her childhood. The cheesy cheese is the cheesiest.
This Six Sentence Story is a vignette from The Life and Times of Jane Doe. This week’s cue was “cheesy.” Fun sixes from other writers are here.
99 Monkeys 
Ohhh this is Wonderful–and has such a “real” feel to it!
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Thank you!
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Most welcome!
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This reminds me so much of my childhood in Britain during WW2 where rationing and shortages of everything including money meant we ate the cheapest of food (if it was available) and had our own chickens for eggs and we were thin as even all forms of candy was sometimes unavailable.
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Those were the not-so-good old days, no doubt. It bothers me so, that prosperous nations have so many who live like that daily.
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Oh, that cheesy orange stuff in the mac and cheese box. Processed and in powdered form. It’s sad that our economics determine the quality of the food we can eat. Jane probably remembers a time when she enjoyed crumbly cheddar. Nice six sentence story that tells a lot more than is written.
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Thank you!
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I cannot eat that processed “cheese food”, it’s just gross. But I do love cheese, so I watch the sales and two-for-one specials, and buy generic cheese. If I was Jane’s friend I would buy her some real cheese now and then as a gift. Good food warms the soul.
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The world needs more souls like you.
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It is sad that Jane has to settle for processed cheese, but sweet that she has good memories of it from childhood. Many times our childhood memories of foods aren’t the fanciest ones, but the things that were made with love. Attitude is everything.
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Exactly.
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I grew up in “the projects” eating “welfare cheese.” LOVED THAT CHEESE!!!
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I ate my share of what I would describe now as rubbery cheese, but I really did like it when I was a kid. Great post.
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