Broken Noodles

She told me that she never had real spaghetti before.
Of course, she’s had spaghetti before
but not in the sense that made it worthwhile.

When I asked why,
she replied that it didn’t feel real.
That, in a sense, it was just pasta.

She always broke the noodles when she made it.
She developed a fear that everything would boil over and catch fire.
That part of the noodles would be too crunchy.
All of it would never fit in the pot.

Her mother always broke the noodles,
so it just became habit.

In the same breath,
she told me at least once
that she’d like to twirl the noodles around the fork
the complete taste and feel of what makes it spaghetti.

The cheese blending into the sauce.
The big ball of noodles just wrapping around the fork,
waiting to be bit.

When I asked about the meatballs, she laughed
she was vegetarian.