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How To Make Toast

November 15, 2024 20 Comments

By Tyler Ventura

Start your day a half-hour later from when your alarm was supposed to go off.

Slot two thin slices of whole grain (because you’re trying to eat healthier) into the cheap toaster you received from your mother last Christmas. Struggle to push down the stuck handle for one to two minutes. Shake the toaster violently until you see fit to chuck it at the closest drywall surface. Forget it’s plugged in when you go to throw it and slip. Settle your ribs onto the tile finish as hard as you can.

Debate crying.

Cry.

Get up and repeat it all tomorrow.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kelly Louisa Balliu says

    November 15, 2024 at 2:15 am

    Sounds like our second hand toaster! Note to oneself… must add to Christmas list. A nice one to read on my morning train journey 🙂

    Reply
  2. Wesley says

    November 15, 2024 at 10:00 am

    So good, amazing work!!! Conveys so much in such short time, brilliant writing <3333

    Reply
  3. sierra mae says

    November 15, 2024 at 10:01 am

    something tells me this isn’t about toast…or maybe it is! maybe one of these days the toaster will work and you’ll actually get toast! you may still cry though but that’s because the toast is so good!

    Reply
  4. Rin Romeo says

    November 15, 2024 at 10:04 am

    Such a simple task lovingly crafted into an immersive experience 🙂

    Reply
  5. Kendall Winter says

    November 15, 2024 at 10:27 am

    such great writing!!! could feel the care put into this just as much as i could feel the pain of trying to get a toaster to work!!!

    Reply
  6. Jesse Schmitt says

    November 15, 2024 at 11:28 am

    I never knew toast could be such a great allegory for my life frustrations and failures. Amazing job!

    Reply
  7. Justin T. says

    November 15, 2024 at 1:25 pm

    Wow I’m craving some toast right now all of a sudden…

    Reply
  8. R. Jolyne says

    November 15, 2024 at 1:45 pm

    Love how you capture the spirit of perseverance through this piece, keep up the amazing work!

    Reply
  9. Gibson Young says

    November 15, 2024 at 2:50 pm

    I have never related more to a short story! Always gotta repeat it all tomorrow.

    Reply
  10. Lucien P. says

    November 15, 2024 at 3:12 pm

    I feel like everyone’s had a day like this, even if it doesn’t include toast or toast products. Gave me a laugh, nice work.

    Reply
  11. Hailey Read says

    November 15, 2024 at 3:51 pm

    I particularly love the line towards the end: “Settle your ribs into the tile finish.” It sobers the reader for a moment from the humorous language, and lets them peek behind the curtain to the core of it. A short tale of hunger pains and how to cope— I love it!

    Reply
  12. Leila says

    November 15, 2024 at 4:21 pm

    Nice! Like what you said without saying it-how making toast is a cover up for the struggle of achieving a sense of normalcy and conventional success.

    Reply
  13. Izzie says

    November 15, 2024 at 4:42 pm

    This toast conveys daily monotony… I love it

    Reply
  14. Rachael Irizarry says

    November 15, 2024 at 9:40 pm

    A simple and funny way to highlight a universal experience of the daily struggle to keep going.

    Reply
  15. Jp says

    November 16, 2024 at 12:03 am

    I like how this story uses failing to make toast as a metaphor for life and cyclicality. It conveys a relatable experience in the way that will be uniquely different for every reader.

    Reply
  16. lily says

    November 16, 2024 at 9:15 pm

    I love the detailed visuals, the slapstick is so vivid in so few words! The philosophy 101 student in me is thrilled by the concise depiction of absurdism, and the child in me loves breaking things that piss me off, so really speaking to me here.

    Reply
  17. Ethan B says

    November 19, 2024 at 10:55 am

    Relatable. It’s not really a morning unless you set five different alarms for 10 minutes apart.

    Reply
  18. Faith says

    November 20, 2024 at 7:57 am

    Well done! The frustration of the ordinary things that are supposed to be simple.

    Reply
  19. Janet says

    November 20, 2024 at 10:26 am

    Ditto to the other comments. Brilliant

    Reply
  20. Emma says

    December 25, 2024 at 4:41 pm

    This piece made me chuckle. Great work!!

    Reply

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