Karl the Jello

Otis: I have a question, when you moved, did you take the Jell-O with you?
Maddie: You mean Karl?

STORY TIME!

When I moved into my second real apartment, probably in like 2007-2008, I decided I would do the most adult thing I knew how to do.

I made a box of orange Jell-O. I poured it into my highball glasses and…that’s about it. I mean, it’s Jell-O.

I ate all but one of them because by the time one was left , I didn’t want it. I actually found I often leave a little behind when it comes to food or quick-grab things. Anyhow, the Jell-O stayed in the fridge.

On what seems like an unrelated note – but totally related – around this time I was really getting into Norse mythology. I was reading “Lay of the Rig.”

In this poem...you read about...a lot of stuff. Let's not get into that.

The point is, there is a character, Karl (Churl), and Karl represents the freeman. The working class. The people who make stuff happen and who aren’t noble but aren’t poor.

And I was like THAT’S ME! This is who I was, this was who I wanted to be. Rough complexion, fighting for the common person. I was in year two of my treatment, I had just sorta mostly beaten death. I was on my own.

Yeah! I was Karl. A non-servile peasant inclined to uncivil or loutish behavior. Mostly through burps and farts.

Or more specifically, that’s what I named the Jell-O because I had a name and I wasn't going to throw out the Jell-O so I might as well name it.

And Karl just stood in the back of my fridge showing me where the back of the fridge was and not bothering anyone. The water evaporated out and left this orange shell which was slightly textured but overall quite plastic-like.

Fast-forward to 2015, I was married and we were moving from my apartment and into an adult-place. I mean, what do you do?

Pack up Karl and take him with you, obviously.

Karl still remains in the back of my refrigerator, close to the jar of bacon fat, letting me know where the back of the fridge is. What sort of person would be if I had thrown him out?

Sometimes I even take him out for dinner parties.

And that is the Story of Karl.

For future reading:

• The Lay of Rig from The University of Pittsburg
• Wikipedia entry on Rígsþula
• What is Jelly Made Of?
• How Long is Does Jelly Last?