"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."
~George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
Miss Flossie Rigby was a young woman with a face-full of freckles, big brown eyes, an incredibly sweet smile, and clinical depression. She was one of Dr. Lecter's patients, and had been for the past five months. Usually people didn't see the need to keep coming for such a long period of time, but not Flossie. Every Thursday at nine in the morning, she would be there, precisely on time.
Things had recently begun looking up for Flossie; she was definitely beginning to get better. She didn't cry as much and she slept better, but she still got sort of sad when she saw squished snails on the sidewalk. Her, "episodes," as she called them, were occurring less and less. But when they happened, they happened. To cope with this, she had taken up cooking and, occasionally, baking.
This particular Thursday, a day after an episode, Flossie brought Dr. Lecter her personal favorite thing of all time-grilled cheese.
At first glance, there wasn't anything spectacular that stood out about the sandwich. In fact, thought Hannibal, it was a little burnt on one side. He had to say, he was throughly unimpressed with Miss Rigby's attempt.
She had brought him things before, mainly marshmallows because that was the only snack she would eat. When she couldn't finish an entire bag, she would bring the rest to him. It was an extremely strange habit that was slowly but surely turning into a compulsion. Dr. Lecter knew she exhibited signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Flossie's steps were deliberate, calculated, as if she were counting them in her head. Apparently there was nothing going on with her in that sense, but she lied very frequently to him. Well, perhaps not lying, but she would deny things forever and keep everything inside until they became a major problem. Like how she dismissed her depression as a constant string of bad days.
So Hannibal was quite surprised to see grilled cheese, placed on a small white plate, sitting on his desk instead of the usual unpleasant bowl of marshmallows, which he threw out as fast as humanly possible. As mentioned, it didn't look like much, and Dr. Lecter was prepared to do the same with the sandwich as the other small, fluffy monstrosities.
But then a thought struck him: never in his life had he tried a grilled cheese sandwich.
Grilled cheese! The epitome of childhood innocence. Something no one should ever have to go through life without. Perhaps this was the reason. He did not really have much of a childhood, and what he remembered from those days he preferred not to dwell on.
Dr. Lecter stared at the sandwich for what felt like a long time, deep in thought. Miss Rigby had left some time ago, after a longer than usual session. She explained to him she made grilled cheese because it brought back good memories of when her older brother would make it for her. Being the extremely affectionate and thoughtful person she was, Flossie was overjoyed to share her creation worth Dr. Lecter.
All of a sudden the sandwich looked awfully tempting. It was cheese, and cheese was pretty good. And so were sandwiches, if one was in the mood. Practically anything grilled was bound to be yummy. It was beginning to not sound so bad.
Tentatively, Hannibal reached for the grilled cheese, holding it up to his face in only slightly trembling hands. Nervously, he sniffed it, for that's just what Hannibal did with everything. It appeared safe, and he doubted Flossie would attempt to poison him or something of the like, nor anyone else.
Dr. Lecter closed his eyes, sucked in a breath, and went for it, taking a rather large bite from the grilled cheese sandwich. It was still warm, not completely toasty like when Flossie made it, but warm, nonetheless, enough that the cheese was still oh so gooey.
Time seemed to slow down then. Next thing Hannibal knew, he had scarfed down the whole thing and was currently picking at the crumbs on the plate.
He took a shocked step back, horrified at the deed he had just committed. He glared down at his hands which he held out in front of him in stunned silence. He, Dr. Hannibal Lecter had just eaten a grilled cheese sandwich and what was worst of all is that he enjoyed it.
Guilt was a wasted emotion. Dr. Lecter knew this, so he did not allow it to consume him. Once he recovered from the shock, he knew he had to move on with life. Things had to be done, despite that...momentary lapse of reason. But Hannibal would never forget that fateful day when he ate his first ever grilled cheese sandwich.
