The order of fried chicken came in one of those red net baskets lined with that waxy paper. It was a fairly poor order, just a few pieces. My friend was eating and I happened to look over out of a kind of bored curiosity.
Nobody was saying anything.
One of the pieces, I noticed, had the real shape of a miniature chicken, its mohawk, pin legs, and small definition of wing. “Look at that,” I said to my friend. And just then, the wing twitched.
We both looked at each other. Then we saw a lung expand.
“It's still alive, I think,” I said.
“It can't be,” my friend said.
“How else could it be moving?”
For a long time, as we watched different parts of it move, I ran over our options. Who could I call to help ? The Human Society? Animal Control? An animal rights organization? No. They all had their own agendas, none of which dealt with deep-fried chickens with active blood.
I ran over more options, using a mental stick to smack all parts of my piñata brain. Then I thought about the breading and cooking and shipping and freezing process. The time it all takes.
The thing had life in it, but the quality of it was as good as a necklace purchased from a vending machine, its spirit stained green.
I considered a rock. My friend continued to eat around the movements.
-Unpublished
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You hit my soft spot for magical realism. Love it!
Michael, I really enjoyed this strange and magical tale. So happy you posted your first story!
(Just a suggestion- in line two, do you mean "fairly," or "fairy" Also, add a comma after "It's still alive, I think," I said.)
Fave.
Yuck in the best way possible. FAVE.
damn this is interesting and good
Thanks for the great comments, everyone!
As a vegan animal rights activist, I find this line hysterical: "No. They all had their own agendas, none of which dealt with deep-fried chickens with active blood."
Your story, and especially the ending, reinforces the entire tragic saga of the factory farming industry's effect on the lives of innocent sentient beings and the roles the carnivores choose to play in dealing with it.
Great, original piece Michael. Loved it!
ACK! Wow, the ending is very successfully visceral.