#146 Soul Food

by Kelly Robinson

Encased in a tight tube of white, she felt her newly-taut skin stick to the booth.

“Best food in the city,” he said. “Trust me.”

She closed her silvered eyelids.

When she opened them, there was a platter of steaming collards, glistening with fat. A dish of fried chicken oozed grease through a wad of paper towels.

“Go ahead,” he urged.

She took a bite. She took two. Then twelve.

She split open a breast with her hands to let out the steam. Finishing off the collards, she smiled, pork fat glistening on her lips. She devoured the breast and let out a small moan before sucking the meat off a plump leg.

“More,” she said.

They brought more. They brought everything. She lapped up the gizzards and butter beans and upended a bowl of gravy. She asked for tea, and they brought a vat, thick with sugar. She guzzled. She gulped. Again, she said:

“More.”

A whole roast pig appeared, hot from the spit, carried by four men. She leapt to the table and ululated, straddling the head and chomping at the still-sizzling rump.

She ate until her lips were blistered and her hands burned, the stained dress now bursting at the seams like a can of biscuits.

She took a last lick at an empty dish and sat back, gnawing a bit of bone.

He stared, fascinated.

“Shall we go back to my place?”

“No, thank you,” she said, wiping her mouth. “I’m quite satisfied.”

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I had no idea what was really going on, but this was laugh-out-loud funny for me. Jumping up on to that pig and gorging until she was burned? I think it was the surreal absurdity that was so funny: a day in the life of whack. Thanks for the laugh!

JRVogt said...

A bit surreal (okay, more than a bit) but the end got a chuckle out of me.

Anonymous said...

Made me think of Lara Flynn Boyle in Men in Black 2. Such fun!!

Deb said...

Holy cow, what fun! Thanks for this.

Unknown said...

Hilarious in a disconcerting, fantastic way. Wonderful use of imagery and metaphor; poor pig.