My mother had left the rest of the family behind in hopes of supporting us from afar. My step-father, never one for self-restraint or forward-thinking, was left to care for us. He was more like a child shepard counting the number of heads returning home each night to avoid a beating from the head master. Not concerned about the health of well-being of his flock as any deficit could be explained away as an "act of God". Having healthy meals, or even regular ones, weren't on the menu. Sleeping in bed wasn't favored as falling asleep in front of the TV was preferred. I could go on and on about the vacuum left by our mother but that isn't the point of this story.
Germane to the this story is a morning race to school. We piled in to the slug bug and headed west towards my grandma's house to eat breakfast and walk the few blocks to school. My grandma wasn't a woman of convenience and so breakFAST wasn't a possibility as she would have to make biscuits and gravy, fry up eggs, and such before anything could be served. With time being the critical element on this particular morning our step-father swung in to a 7-11 on the hill located in a small Ozark town and ushered me in to buy something for everyone to eat. Everyone by this time in our lives was my two sisters, step father, and I. Two dollars in hand I ran inside and down one of two aisles to find something that we could all eat fast.
There in a tall, bright, red box was our destiny. Lucky Charms.
I grabbed the box and ran to the counter. The clerk rang up the item, I paid, got change, and ran back outside to the idling VW.
Showing the treasure to everyone and hearing sounds of positive confirmation we pulled out and headed towards Grandma's.
Once there everyone headed upstairs to the kitchen. Big sis busted out the bowls and spoons, little sis took her place at the table, step father got out milk from Grandma's fridge and I was busy opening the box. I had held it the whole way there in case there were surprises in the box or whatnot.
With the table set and everyone ready to eat I opened the top of the box. I split the plastic opening and as I was pulling it apart there was a webbing, similar to what you'd expect from something glued together. I thought nothing of it and cut the thin shards with my finger.
I tilted the box and looked down the piles of wheat and marshmallow shapes in hopes the surprise was on top but it wasn't. I poured some of the cereal in to my big sis's bowl who was sitting next to me. I poured a bowl for my little sis by reaching over the first bowl I poured and as I finished her bowl everyone began pouring their own milk. I finished by pouring my own bowl.
Before I reached for the milk I took another look in the box of Lucky Charms hoping for a glimpse of the prize somewhere inside now that a good 1/3 of the box had been poured out. As I tilted the top of the box down towards my face and watched the cereal inside slide towards the opening something strange came in to view besides a shrink wrapped gift from some benevolent corporation.
From the bottom of the box, underneath the wheat shaped objects, moon, stars, and green clover marshmallows came something shaped like an egg. A large egg.
Wrapped in webbing.
As the webbed egg rolled towards my horrified eyes hundreds of maggots broke free and wriggled towards the opening that I couldn't tip back up, as I was frozen in grotesque amazement.
My eyes darted around the box and realized that there were little maggots coming out of every part of the box. The webbing I had cut with my finger was host to maggots. The large webbed egg was a home to the core of them all. Underneath every marshmallow was a writhing maggot.
I turned my head as if slapped to look at my sisters who were already eating spoonfuls of the cereal. My mouth was slowly opening like a crypt door.
I looked down at each of their bowls and betwixt the colorful floating marshmallows and wheat shapes were little drowning maggots.
The tigers finally broke free and I yelled out "Stop eating it! There are maggots in the cereal!". My sisters stopped chewing and looked down at their bowls. Their eyes widened in disgust and mortal terror as they bore witness to the reality of it all.
I jumped back from my chair.
My little sister puked on to the table.
I ran for the door right by the table and busted out on to the balcony seeking air. As I exited the house and hit the morning air I looked back in to the dark of the kitchen as my big sister came running out. She rushed to the balcony edge and puked over it.
I tried to maintain my balance but instead I puked right down on to the balcony and watched it spill down between the planks.
Inside my little sister was crying between her retches.
My big sister started to cry and scream at me for letting them eat maggots.
I was still struck dumb by it all. I couldn't defend myself. I couldn't explain. I stood, in horror that everything had transpired.
I never recovered.
I still won't eat Lucky Charms.
Never will.
No comments:
Post a Comment