Brown Bags and Why I Didn't Eat Wonder Bread

I was cleaning up the kitchen, and I came across these brown paper bags I used ages ago for packing lunches. Every time I see brown paper bags, I think of first grade. The first day of first grade when Lisa D, who was sitting across from me, started eating her brown paper bag.

What are you doing? I asked.
I'm eating my bag, she said.
Why are you eating your bag?
Do you dare me to eat the whole bag?
Yeah.
Okay.

Lisa ate her bag, piece by piece, wadding it up and showing me as she chewed until Mrs. Wallace took her half-eaten bag away.

On the way home Mom asked me how my day went.
Lisa ate her bag, I said.
She ate her bag?
Yep. Her brown paper bag.
Oh well. It's a good thing it was a BROWN paper bag. She probably got some good fiber in that bag. A brown bag, you know, is so much better than a white bag. More natural. Because they bleach the paper to make it white, just like they bleach flour to make it white. That's why I don't let you eat Wonder Bread.