I wanted to escape, so I went for a walk to the supermarket. I asked an old woman stacking shelves where the chickpeas were. She said ‘follow me’. To my surprise, she walked through the fire exit into the car park.
The next thing I knew, we were climbing into her car and driving down the road. She had the windows rolled down, hair blowing in the wind. We were driving past tower blocks, past used mattresses and allotments and industrial estates.
Suddenly, we were out in the countryside. The sun was beaming down, fields stretching out to the horizon. We reached a forest and got out. She said ‘this way’.
The light was dappling through the leaves. We came to a clearing. There were animals roaming freely everywhere. Pigs and cows and sheep and chickens. There were tomatoes the size of balloons. ‘What is this place?’ I asked. ‘This is where we get our produce’ she said.
‘That’s not all.’ she said. ‘Come with me’. She led us down a path to an opening in the forest. A circle of people were dancing to music, waving their arms in the air, smiling from ear to ear. ‘Who are these people?’ I asked. ‘Those are my colleagues’ she said. ‘The company organises this?’ I asked. ‘Oh yes’ she said. ‘What did you think, that they just have us check sell-by dates all day’?
‘Wow’ I said. ‘Now, about those chickpeas.’ Suddenly, I was thrown back under strip lights, listening to the clinical beep of a distant scanner. ‘They’re in aisle 5’ she said.
credits
from En Route To Tropical Islands,
released March 19, 2024
Music and lyrics by Nathaniel Forrester
Production by Yuval Brand
Backing vocals by Halina Katz
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