I walk into the butcher’s shop this morning to him walking towards the door.
“Sorry man, we’re out of meat…(chuckling)…hell the whole damn city is out of meat. Looks like you’re going to have to tough out this ‘I can only eat meat’ ordeal you’re going through” the butcher said.
Thinking he was joking around I said, “Real funny Harv…gimme 20 lbs of your cheapest.”
“I’m serious man, we don’t got any meat…I called up the factory that delivers the livestock to me, and they are all out too. They aren’t expecting anything more weeks to come! I don’t know how I’m going to make a living…(chucking again)…at least you all made me a rich man before the factory ran out of animals!”, he says while pushing me out the door. “Give me a call in a few weeks and I’ll save you some of whatever I got…for a price of course.”
I walk down the street, hands in my pockets, feeling the hunger kick me in the stomach. I had 3 days’ worth of meat left, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after that. When I got home I immediately started calling around other shops around town. No one answered the phones, but the same recording was on all of them.
“We don’t have any meat, and don’t know when the next delivery is. To be notified when the next shipment comes in, leave your name and number, and how much you want and we’ll try and set it back for you.” Every time I tried to leave a message, I would get “I’m sorry but the mail box you’re trying to leave a message for is currently full. Please try again later.”
I go to the fridge and get a pound of hamburger out. I set it on the stove while I got a plate, and when I turned around the meat seemed to be the center of my vision. Everything else was black except for the meat. I run over to it like I hadn’t eaten in months and devour it all. As I sit back with my stomach protruding, my vision clears and start to see clearly again.
“What the fuck was that?” I said out loud. I’ve never felt that hungry in my entire life. It felt like the only thing in the world that mattered was that hamburger. Shaking it off, I go to lie down in bed, and when I closed my eyes I seemingly fell straight to sleep…but what I dreamed of will haunt me for the rest of my days…