He arrived home a little bit hungry. First, he had to take a small package of ham out of the freezer. But before he did that, he took the big pot off the stove and put about an inch of water in the bottom. Then he put the steamer basket into the pot. He put the pot on the stove and turned on the gas burner.

He opened the refrigerator and took out an eggplant. He washed the eggplant with soap and water, and then rinsed it. He sliced the eggplant into thin sections, and put them all into the big pot. He put the lid on the pot and set the timer to 20 minutes.

In 20 minutes, the eggplant would be deliciously soft, almost like pudding. He would take half of it out of the pot, and put it into a bowl. Then he would add a little butter, salt, ground pepper, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Then, he would chop up some microwaved ham, add it to the eggplant, and enjoy! But first, he needed to take the ham out of the freezer.

Before he did that, he took a lemon out of the fruit bowl on top of the refrigerator. He sliced it in half and looked around for the lemon squeezer. It was supposed to be hanging on a hook above the sink. It wasn’t, of course. He dug through the pile of clean dishes in his sink. It wasn’t there. He looked through all the stuff on all the countertops. He looked on the stovetop, in the fridge, and in the microwave. He looked in the kitchen drawers. He gave up.

He sat down at the dining table and cursed his lack of organization. I’ve spent half of my life looking for things I’ve spent the other half misplacing, he muttered. Just then he spotted the lemon squeezer, sitting on top of his printer. Of course, he thought. Where else would it be?

The timer went off. He turned off the burner. He squeezed the lemon. He took half the eggplant out of the pot, put it into a bowl, added butter, and watched it melt. He shook salt and grinded pepper onto the eggplant, poured the lemon juice on the eggplant, and sat down at the dining table. He took a bite. It was delicious! But, something was missing. What was it? Just before the last bite of eggplant, he remembered.