First Line Friday, May 21/21 – The Ritual

It is First Line Friday! Welcome, and let’s get writing 🙂

Include the first line, of course! Tag it Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, First Line Fridays, and Short Fiction. Create a link (ping-back) to this post and add your link to Mister Linky, https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/first-line-friday-may-21-2021/

Today’s line: “A perfectly brewed cup of tea can’t fix everything”

My Submission 🙂

A perfectly brewed cup of tea can’t fix everything.

But, perhaps the ritual in making it can, 

At least in her mind.

First, she turns on the stove.

The burner must be red hot before she will place the kettle. 

The kettle is filled with a very specific portion of lukewarm water…

Not too hot, not too cold. 

She uses a ruler to measure the amount, and a thermometer to ensure the temperature is just right. 

She wipes the bottom of the kettle with a bleached washcloth, to remove any offensive particles. 

She sets her timer, 

For thirty-seven minutes, exactly.

It bubbles beforehand…within a few minutes,

But, the chlorine and toxins won’t die off with anything less than thirty-seven minutes.

She removes the kettle from the stove, and pours what’s left of the water into a glass jar,

Which goes directly into the freezer for six minutes.

Her timer goes off, and she pours the water into a cup.

It sits while she prepares the tea. 

She tears open the sachet and rinses the contents under the tap. 

Once satisfied, she opens her palm and runs the kettle’s water through her fingers,

Before tossing the leaves in the trash.

She doesn’t add sugar or milk,

As both are likely impure.

After forty-five minutes, 

She sits with her tea.

But, does not drink it.

It has a funny smell.

It’s surely contaminated.