Grocery Store Sushi and Death

Legend has it that on his deathbed, Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States, was fed some soup. "The nourishment is palatable," he said and then he died. I infrequently wonder about my own death. My last meal. Perhaps I will be condemned to death in some grisly prison somewhere. Even though they have a claim on my life, they will still offer me a last meal. What will it be? What will the last bite be like? Will it be a chunk of meat? The death of another mingling in my half-live mouth. Perhaps it will complete some unfathomable cycle. A whirling of time, breath, stillness, and decomposition. Steak, shrimp, and bacon. There was a time where that may have been my last tall order. I'd eat it with a big 'ol bib. There'd be a sheen of sauce on my face as they strapped me to that last chair, that last stage. Pull the trigger, fire the shot, release the juice. Dead. Meat.

But yesterday I didn't die. Something both nourishing and palatable graced my mouth. It seems like a bad punchline to tell you that it was grocery store SUSHI. Nonetheless, it exceeded expectations. Soft and unfishy-Alaskan slamon salmon that makes you feel locally responsible (LOL). How nice. I worked at Trader Joe's for a time and boy did that sush blow. I was fooled once and swore off the grocery store sushi trade. I've since come around. QFC makes sush on site, complete with Japanese man (ish, Asian man to be more imprecise) who dons a traditional, reassuring garb and slices the sushi with what I imagine to be a never ending blade of might. It was decent sushi, alright? I sopped it up with sauce and green horseradish and plopped it in there. There, you know, the gullet. I ate it with a salad. Blasting chunks of malleable sushi slabs with burly croutons and crisp, defiant lettuce spines. Caesar dressing to boot for that added fish paste sensation. Sushi from the grocery store can work. It will not be what I want when I must relieve myself of this life. But palatable fits.

ABOVE: Filmore faces death and sushi with stoic resolve.