Oscar hadn’t eaten all day, but that was okay. Many scientific studies have concluded that the less people eat, the longer they live. These studies are based on experiments with mice and other small animals, so maybe the conclusions don’t apply to humans. But maybe they do. Oscar wanted to live to be 100. So, years ago, he had cut back from three meals a day to two. Occasionally, he ate only one meal a day. The fewer meals Oscar ate, the less guilty he felt about not exercising.

It was 11 p.m. Oscar peeled and ate a banana. He filled a pot with water, put the pot on the stovetop, and turned on the gas. Then he sliced six radishes, salted them lightly, and ate them. Then he washed and ate two celery stalks. After that, he ate a half cup of assorted nuts. He loved the pecans best, although they were the fewest in the assortment. He sliced a lemon in half, and then used a squeezer to squeeze all the lemon juice into an empty cup. When the water in the pot began to boil, he grabbed a box of pasta from the cabinet.