school lunches

i had this plastic lunch bag
that smelled like sour milk
no matter how many times i cleaned it out-
i always wanted just plain
brown paper bags
like most of the other kids in our class
but my mom was frugal
and did not believe in waste.
so i had this bright pink
lunch sac with black zippers
and a side compartment
to shove silverware from home.
i also had an assortment of
tupperware-
each food item had to have its place
a flat square piece for gross
peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
that were mostly
soggy jelly sammies
with the peanut butter soaked in-
all that was mostly left
was peanut remnants
[i now to this day only purchase
creamy peanut butter,
i will not eat crunchy]
there was a container for beverages too-
did i get regular juice boxes-
or even better
capri suns like all the other cool kids
in first grade?
no. my mom filled my drink container
with milk
that ended up being luke warm and
tasting like plastic
[probably the BPA seeping]
by the time lunch rolled around.
sigh.
sometimes i would forget my lunch 
on purpose
because then the teacher would
ask the entire class to pitch in
any extra items they would be
willing to share with me-
the starving brown orphan
and to my delight,
my first grade peers were quite generous.
my desk would be piled high
with all sorts of glorious delicacies that
i would never 
dream of finding in my own 
lunch pail.
oreo cookies,
dunkaroos,
fruit roll ups,
gold fish crackers,
fruit snacks,
even the occasional
fun sized candy bar!
i forgot my lunch 
too many times
and the showering of delicious treats
was short lived.