Rough Draft (Banana Lumpia) Journal #8

It was a bright sunday morning. I was restlessly rocking in my chair. Attempting to read my novel, I was getting more distracted by the sweet smell of the lumpia going into my tiny nostrils, as I heard the red, circle clock that hung on the wall go tick-tick-tick. I couldn't stand it anymore! I was beyond impatient. So impatient, I couldn't even read the words in my novel anymore. I ran to the kitchen to see if my mom was close to finishing the lumpia. I asked her as quick as I could, "Are you almost finished?!" She glanced at me and smiled her big, million dollar smile. I looked at her with a confused face.I actually wanted an answer from her. In my head, I said "Why is she smiling? Is there something on my face? How about my teeth?" I asked her a second time, "Uhm, is... it... cooked.. yet?" She just laughed at how I was so anxious to take a bite out of the sweet, crunchy, yet soft, banana lumpia. I whined loudly, "Mmmmom... I'm not kidding. I really want to know!" She answered simply "Just be patient, hun." But my patience was quickly rushing away like sand in an hour glass. I walked back to my chair and started reading my novel again. I read a couple of lines, but I still couldn't get the picture of the warm banana lumpia out of my head. I wanted the warmness of the banana lumpia inside of me right then and there. I’d kill for it! Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.

Since reading didn't calm my anxious self down, I decided to watch some TV. "Ugggh!", i said angrily as if I were to rip all of my dark brown hair out. It was as if nothing could overcome the anxiousness that was stirring inside of me. I quickly grabbed the TV remote and turned the TV off. I just sat there listening to the sound of the banana frying in the pan. I glanced at my mom checking to see if the banana lumpia was cooked. My eyes looked away and my lips started to form a frown that almost looked like an upside down 'u'. My mind kept thinking of it and my mouth started to water instantly! After a couple minutes of thinking and pondering, I saw my mom lay one golden, cooked banana lumpia onto a plate. My lips went from a frown into a smile that went from ear to ear. Sprinting into the kitchen, I saw my dad, hungry as a mountain lion, standing there, reaching for that one banana lumpia as if it were a gazillion dollars. The pupils of my eyes began to grow larger and larger, my knees began to shake uncontrollably and I felt my head turn flaming hot. His fingers were just inches away from it. I ran as fast as I could and grabbed it in a quick, swift move. I flashed him a large smile and he looked at me with a ticked off face. I bit into it quickly and felt my tongue burn from the heat as it turned as red as a tomato and as hot as the sun in the summer. Honestly, I didn't give a flying hoot about my burnt tongue. My teeth just kept grinding the delectable, dulcet banana lumpia down.

As i took the last bite, I was certain that I wasn't satisfied. I looked to my left and saw that a tremendous amount of lumpia's, almost piling up to the ceiling, was already made! I tried to grab one more but my mom's fast acting hand moved it away from it. "Ah, ah, ah... this plate isn't for us. It's for the guests at the party tonight.", said my mom. I looked to the other side of me and saw another plate that had a little bit less banana lumpia on it. "Ooooh! Who's this plate for?", I asked my mom kindly. "That plate... is for us, of course!" My head began to spin at how happy I was. I grabbed another lumpia and started prancing around the room, accidentally hitting almost everything around me, like a little toddler.

It was 5:30 PM and lots and lots of guests started coming into our house. I watched the happy over joy-ed facial expressions of the guests and traced where their hungry eyes were gazing at, and guess what? They went straight to the banana lumpia. Each person grabbed a white, styrofoam plate and started grabbing some other food, like chicken, barbecue, and spaghetti. They only grabbed small portions of those, but once they reached the banana lumpia they absolutely knew they had to grab a handful. My mom watched the guests with a smile on her face. She was happy to know that she did a good job at making the banana lumpia. Each guest bit into it and had to slip out a compliment out of their full mouth's saying stuff like, "Yummm!" or "Mmm, this tastes good!" In other words, every guest was satisfied to the fullest.'

Slowly, guests started pouring out of the house with smiles on their faces and some leftover banana lumpia in their hands.They thought it was so good, they decided to take some for the road. I would've done the same. I mean, come on, it's just too hard to resist. I walked over to my mom and grinned at her. She looked at me and asked "What?". I responded by saying quickly, yet meaningfully, "Good job, mom. You did it again."