“Here you go!”

Ben’s mother planted a kiss on his cheek before shoving a pill and a juice glass into his hands. It signaled the daily ritual of a multivitamin so large it could choke a dinosaur and a slimy blue-green drink so vile it probably lead to their extinction. The juice he called “green glob” sparkled and moved as if it were an alien life form.

“I’m trying something new,” his mother said, beaming. “What do you think?”

Ben closed his eyes and drew a tiny sip across his lips. He forced his grimace into a smile. “Tastes like pomegranate.”

Her eyes arched in surprise. “Pomegranate? Good idea! Full of antioxidants. I’ll add some tomorrow!” She placed a second glass on the granite countertop and filled it with the remaining glob, using a spatula to force the last tenuous drops out of the blender. “Finish up.”

Tongue tingling in a way that didn’t seem natural, Ben stared into his glass while slipping the pill into his pocket. This morning, all his friends were sitting down to a breakfast where pancakes, bacon and clearly identifiable fruit juices were on the menu. He was stuck with a botanical concoction his mother brewed — probably in a cauldron.

“You sure this stuff’s good for me?”

“It will counteract the effects of all the junk food you eat when you think I’m not looking. So will that pill in your pocket.”

Busted!

“So what’s in this new juice?” Ben asked.

“Trust me,” his father said. “You don’t want to know.”

Ben’s mother threw a dish towel at him. “Bio-organic tofu, seaweed, kelp, soy beans, mango, kiwi, banana,” she said proudly, “and a few secret ingredients from my garden.”

Ben grimaced. He’d seen the weird stuff growing in her garden.

(text copyright, C. Taylor-Butler, 2015)