The Eleventh Hour Food Fight

Written in response to: Write about a character who develops a special ritual to cope with something.... view prompt

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Asian American Christian Teens & Young Adult

Anyone else tired of eating rice?

I thought so.


Got the meat sweats yet?

I thought so.


You though you could slip that one by me, didn’t ya.


Well. Once. I woke up.

I woke up.

To the run on verbal sentences of explanations, reparation

requests and the like.


Never much cared for the appearance of

Rice.

It kind looks like tiny bugs😳.


Let’s call them “Slicey, Dicey and Spicey.


Slicey, Dicey, Spicey.🐞🦟🪳


Slicey—Anyway you try to cut through ‘em.

Slimy any way you look at ‘em.

Dicey— any way you attempt to roll ‘em, roll through ‘em.

Slimey any way you look at ‘em.

Spicey—Anyway you try and heat it up.

Slimey—any way you look at ‘em.


They come at us from all sides. Attack from high and low.

Prefer when you are down.

Prefer that they scaled their scaley selves on scaled walls and the backs of others.

Ugh.


Itchy.

Scratchy.

Bumpy.

Mumpy.


The first antibiotics kill 99.9:percent of the bug. And until the prescription is complete, The ten day course, the rest can be anyone’s guess.


The beauty of antibiotics is a “catch-22.

They help you.

At the same time, they lower your resistance.

Not a dicey game to play.


It’s the “other” small percentage of the antibiotic resistance that is causing all the run on sentences and warbling of nouns and verbs and prepositions and poor sentence structure. All prevention. All in the name of preventing,


A complete sentence.

From occurring.

Happening.

Whatever.


Slicey, Dicey and Spicey will do just about anything—-


To replace you.


causing all the angst—with a wink and a smile and a roll,of the dice of your well being….. no doubt.


Have you checked the ingredients on the label of the cereal box lately?


I know.

Ironic.

Snap, Crackle and Pop has been replaced by Slicey, Dicey and Spicey.


And the cartoon-ey characters are no where near as “cute” and the funny little elf-like dancing pops-o-fun.😉😉😉


Mixed reactions when the milk is added to the breakfast cereal. A kind of explosion may even occur.👺👹😾.


Call in security! Hangry in the local cafeteria, local lunch room. Flying saucers even. Better duck for cover.


When and if the milk is added, watch out. Hives may develop, itchy scratchy red things pop up and the throat closes up. The fin print on the label never mentioned this.


But. Spicey, Dicey and Spicey knew.

They just forgot to share.

And here we are.


All itchy, scratchy and table flippy.



Unfortunately, when the cow’s milk is added Slicey, Dicey and Spicey do, they do come “alive”. Someone once said, way back when, during the old foody pyramids came on the scene, the times, that strong bones were good, healthy and avoided rickets.


But they may not have factored in the variables of nuts.


Walnuts.

CASHEWS.

Almonds.

Spanish.

Humans.

Going.

Nuts.🧐🤨


Some may have such an adverse reaction to the madness that they return the madness.


In kind.

But not kindly.


Blow a stack kinda kind.


Have an adverse reaction so intensely to the nuts. So to speak.


Almonds, peanut allergies and the “like”.


Some small rituals have a way of keeping us in line.

The line.

The lunch line.


That is until Slicey, Dicey and Spicey show up with their entourage of Ricey Crispy treats to make us crazy.


Crunchy is as crunchy does.


Rice is Slimey. Because it hides in the most insidious of places—and ball fields and small ball courses of our existence. And pretends to like you for who you are, just the ya you are.. ‘Cept they don’t really. Superficial and opportunistic. Want to take it all from you, and if you are not paying close attention.


Squash you and yours into the bugs just as they like you to be.


Pay it forward or blow up like a balloon.

Wish you had read the fine print at this point is a moot point.

Hopefully by this time a person can even read the fine print on the box, before they get all “blow-up-eee”


Either way it poses a madness.

And a judgment.

A judgment call.


Crazy or crazed or both?


Been out on the streets so long may have,

Forgotten.


The good ole’ days of Snap, Crackle and Pop are sadly,

gone.

The cereal boxes have become precariously mis shape ed. Misshapened even.

Some may even say mis matched.

Some may not.


Lineages aside.

And sidways glances too.

To boot.

You out of your life and be replaced by something

”Better”


Alone.

Or.

Lonely.


And they march right on in. In a straight line even Presenting to the world that they are all orderly and sensitive to your needs until they swipe them right from under your nose.


And fly away.


With your life in their hands.

On to the next task.


Of taking on another lunchroom.

Cause the plates to go “a flying’” right passed your face and land right in front of “one of their own”.


The one who is on their side, their team. Their whatever. Slicey, Dicey and Spicey have one great fear.


The bagged lunch.


So, So curious about what is inside your bag,they can hardly stand themselves. They will do anything-ANYTHING- to get their hand, their grimey paws into your life—yes, introduction of a fourth new “friend” that they will smile, wink, flirt and sputter all kinds of nonsense in order to replace,


You.


They take no prisoners. But they take all prisoners.


Especially the lonely ones.

They do not like the ones who stand alone.


Slicey, Dicey, Spicey and their new friend Grimey move on in a force of milky, meaty tendencies and take their arrow-ed so called strength right to the center of your heart.


They add a little sugary mix all in an attempt to catch the ones sleeping, having trouble awaking and woke-into the existences all around. Until they are no longer famished at your expense.


Dry cereal has its health benefits.

Avoids the slurpy sound of annoyance.


And in the long, long run is much better for our over health. With no crazy added in. no flying saucers in the lunch room. No crackling bags to fend off.

July 07, 2023 15:37

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