Chicken Noodle

         There it sat.  The most unassuming, yet delicious bowl of soup the world had ever seen.  Few passersby even noticed this small bowl sitting on the windowsill of a grungy hole-in-the-wall restaurant, yet the fate of those spellbound by the golden broth, soft orange carrots, or listless parsley is still a mystery. 
         As twelve chimes rang from the clock tower, 5th street filled with business people, construction workers, telemarketers, policemen, and every other type of jobholder looking for a quick lunch.  From above, the street looked like an army of wind-up dolls had invaded, but instead of walking aimlessly, each went to the same restaurant they went every day and ordered the same thing they order every day with the same dressing on the side or the same hold on the tomatoes or whatever it may be every day.
         However, this day was different for Miss Sally Jenkins.  It had started out rough; her whole routine had been thrown off since morning.  Normally, Sally would wake up, brush her teeth, hop in the shower, shampoo, condition, repeat once, and then get dressed, grab a coffee, and head to work, but today it had all gone awry.  You see, Sally had irresponsibly let her conditioner run much too low, and when she went to repeat, the conditioner had depleted.  Then, while trying to figure out a new way to get that silky shine back into her hair, her coffee got cold, which led Sally to stop at the local coffee shop, and in turn caused her to catch every red light on the way to work.  Due to her tardiness, she was forced to catch up on her missed work during lunch hour, and that finally brings us to her current situation on 5th street.  Sally only had fifteen minutes left for lunch, barely even time for fast food, but if she didn’t eat now, the whole second half of her day would be thrown off course as well. 
         Sally stood between the two fastest, cheapest fast food restaurants trying to decide if she would prefer Paco’s Tacos or Humboldt’s Hamburgers, (not much of a decision considering they used the same meat), but as she started towards Paco’s Tacos, she noticed a steaming bowl resting on the windowsill of a dank little restaurant next door.  To avoid triteness, the concept of curiosity killing the cat will not be used, but curiosity was the cause of Sally’s decision to see what was in the bowl, which happened to be filled with delicious soup.  Sally’s watch stared at her, each second ticking its warning.  She only had ten minutes to eat and get back to work, so in a rushed and irresponsible decision, Sally decided to have soup for lunch.  She stood in front of the bowl, which smelled just as appetizing as it looked and fortunately had a spoon sitting right next to it.  Now, Sally was not known to be a thief, and she was planning on leaving money in place of the bowl, but she was still a smart consumer.  One taste wouldn’t hurt, and she was definitely entitled to at least a small taste of something she was planning on buying anyway.  Sally slowly brought the spoon to her mouth; the broth mixed perfectly with the chicken, and the parsley accentuated the carrots perfectly, this soup was truly the most perfect the culinary world had ever seen.  A warm sensation penetrated her entire body and as she closed her eyes to savor the taste, the spoon fell out of her hand.  Sally had disappeared into thin air.  Sally would not be returning from her lunch break that day nor ever.