He’s a house guest whose culture you don’t know. You feel robbed when he arrives to visit because you wanted gifts of china or art, something you can appreciate at your leisure. But in his hands are fruits and cheeses to enjoy today or toss, rotten, tomorrow. Gone either way.

Chelsea Utecht is an American abroad in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she teaches literature and writing. A recent participant in the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has been previously published in Fifty-Word Stories and her work is forthcoming in Shooter Literary Magazine.