Pandora's Salad

He held an imaginary microphone in his hand and looked me directly in the eye. The smile dissolved from his lips and his neck went rigid
"AND NOW, back to you Bob." His tone was like a firm handshake. We erupted with wide eyed approval and fits of laughter.
"No way" I said "you were THAT guy? That sounds like a really fun job, why did you leave it?" I asked of my new friend. We were sitting around a picnic table, surrounded on all sides by the green backdrop of spring and an umbrella of blue and white sky. Those of us that made up the peanut gallery leaned in, frozen by his mesmerizing dance as he laughed and gestured and walked us through his costume trunk of previous lifestyles.
"Honestly?" I shook my head.
"I couldn't stand how my nose looked on camera" he said, and then he laughed. His laughter was as good as a giant cue card pleading for applause, but we didn't need the prompt. We were doubled over with giggles.

Vanity is a giant butterfly, who flew elegantly out of pandoras jar, and whom I found so lovely that I believed her promises to make me beautiful and allowed her to perch on the end of my nose. Her giant flapping wings obscure the view of the sun, and make the world dark like I am looking through colored glass. I am so accustomed to her shade that I will not allow her to fly away.
I shake the jar and it is full, and soon I begin to wonder if I might find something to light my way in there. When I open the jar pride comes galloping out, offering her back for me to ride. I decide to let pride lead me. Soon I find I am galloping over gardens and knocking people over.
I open the jar again, and envy pokes out her head. She tells me "you don't know what you are missing", and slithers from the jar up my sleeve. She curls around my neck, feeding my imagination with tales of the world only others can see.
Again I open the jar, and from it obsession squacks "follow me, you must only turn left!" Now I am galloping in circles looking for this world I cannot see and stomping all the while.

I hear the voice of a Friend declare that the jar I hold is not yet empty. I shake it and it answers me with a hollow silence.
You will not be able to hear what is left in the jar.
The gift of hope will appear only when you offer it to others.

The dressing:
mix 4 Tbsp coconut cream (I just used the creamy half of a can of coconut milk) with 2 Tbsp lime juice. Add a pinch of cumin and some salt, 1 tsp of red wine vinegar, 1 tsp honey, 1 Tbsp salad oil and 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro.

The salad: mix together red leaf lettuce, 1 cup chickpeas, 2 stalks diced celery, 1/3 yellow pepper, 1/3 red pepper, 1 carrot diced.

Christina's vote: "This salad made me feel like there is no turning back"