Image from: Missed (2013)
“No,” she said. “Bring the real ones. I’ll make myself a different snack.”
She stood in the middle of the grocery aisle, phone glowing. The official answer: They contain enriched flour—wheat, barley, rye, the unholy trinity. Some flavors, like the “Gluten Free” vegetable crisps from the same brand, were certified. But the original? The round, golden, sixty-four-cracker-per-sleeve original? A ticking gluten bomb.
She grabbed a box of the gluten-free knockoffs. They were heavier, denser, and tasted faintly of sadness and tapioca starch. In the car, she opened them. The first cracker crumbled into dust before it reached her lips. She ate it anyway. It was fine. It was not a Ritz.