Day 817: 5 Minute Freewrite: Tuesday - Prompt: sesame sticks

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Being a 27-year widower and almost-24-year Army veteran – with PTSD piling on top of a tendency to depression – led a man of intellect to learn how to do a lot of things to fill all the mandatory R&R the Army insisted that he take.

Either that, or just commit suicide and be done with it all.

Instead, Colonel Henry Fitzhugh Lee had learned how to do a lot of things, and in the year he took transitioning through the Reserve into full civilian life, he came to himself healing from the traumas of his past with a lot of skills even he didn't realize he had accumulated.

One of them was keeping himself in his versions of his favorite snacks – he was compactly built, and disdained extra starch and sugars in his diet, but still liked to have a salty snack from time to time.

Colonel Lee – later Captain Lee of the police force of Big Loft, VA – loved to make sesame sticks his way. Protein-rich almond flour instead of wheat flour, sesame seeds, turmeric, garlic powder, mustard powder, soy sauce, water, oil, and bake to a crisp – the crunch was all the more satisfying because of the work put in.

Captain Lee was still a busy man in his new life, what with police work and Reserve Weekends, so when he cooked, he cooked in bulk and vacuum-sealed his snacks.

The nice thing about his life as 2020 approached was having so many people to share with.

So: his cold case division – five young and hungry lieutenants – was delighted to find sacks of snacks whenever their captain did a big bake.

The Hamilton family, headed by cousin Ironwood Hamilton in nearby Tinyville, VA, crunched away happily on the weekends afterward, as did the Lees-of-the-mountains and their closest friends.

Mrs. Maggie Thornton, the widow who was not going to be a widow much longer, received an entire gift basket of sesame sticks and other goodies carefully put together for her enjoyment.

The sound of peace and provision all around … it had a satisfying crunch to it for H.F. Lee.

Photo by Nicole Parker on Unsplash