Temptation

In stumbling about in the meter cupboard just off the hallway of the vacated retirement bungalow I came across the stockpile of tinned foodstuffs.

Persons of a particular generation place great importance in having enough food on the premises to cover most eventualities from infirmity to civil unrest, bad weather to the arrival of unexpected visitors.

This was a fairly modest stash, perhaps a couple of weeks starvation rations at best but well planned and expertly arranged.

Tinned peas were well represented but what caught my eye was a pyramidal arrangement of corned beef.

The Morrisons own brand was prominent.

I am not sure without personal validation if the criteria for patronising the said retailer and that product was on the basis of quality or price.

Topping the structure having been intentionally placed there was a tin of Fray Bentos Corned Beef.

For some reason deep in my psyche, whether fed that brand as a young child or treated to neatly crust trimmed sandwiches by doting Grandparents, I felt a strong urge to steal away the distinctively shaped tin and unceremoniously dig out the contents with any available cutlery in the dresser drawer of the kitchen which was across the hallway.

It was, after all, about 2pm and unusually for me I had not had either elevenses or lunch.

I was feeling a bit light headed from lack of food, any calorific benefits of my breakfast cereal and sliced banana having been depleted across a busy working day.

That criminal intention dominated every thought but fortunately for only a few fleeting seconds.

Before I could muster enough saliva to start a dribble from the corner of my mouth I came to my senses and carefully replaced the Fray Bentos on the shelf at the top of the cupboard, turned my back and walked away.

I chided myself aloud for even contemplating perpetrating any such action.

I had after all been brought up properly to recognise wrong from right.  Call it breeding, conscience, the discipline of Lent or just plain fear of being caught.

The potential fallout, had I carried out my heinous crime and been caught, will have been at best shameful and at worst....well, it does not bear thinking about. I can imagine the headlines in the media about a depraved individual preying on the elderly and for what, a few moments of illicit pleasure involving a teaspoon and reconstituted tinned meat.

I walked away from that den of temptation with my reputation intact and my liberty ensured but not without a slight pang of hunger in my belly and a strong and persistent craving for anything that resembled Corned Beef.