SHOESTRING IN THE BREAD

One evening Jon and I ate dinner over at Michael's house. I remember that Michael was playing JETLINER and FLY LIKE AN EAGLE by the Steve Miller band..."Time keeps on slipping into the future." These songs seemed to be about our adventure in Afghanistan.

As Jon was applying some butter to his nan, he remarked how we would all be "lucky to get out of OUT OF AFHANISTAN alive"; and then just as he took the first bite of his bread, he said, "I'll be *###*! What in the hell is this?"

It turned out to be a shoestring embedded in his nan. Michael chuckled, but I laughed loudly. All Jon could say was, "What's next?" The extra ingredient was not a mistake. The nan bakery-stand probably wanted to play a joke on Jon, since they knew him as one of their steady khareji [foreigner] customers.

I always looked forward to the ritual of buying my nan each day. I spoiled myself, and I would wait a little longer for a hot slice fresh-out-of-the-ovenpit.
Nan is shaped like a snowshoe. It is made from flour and water (and sometimes some charcoal pieces that slip in from the ovenpit). I never had a shoestring in my nan.