"I am fifty-one and have waited too long to eat. They're right, they're all right. If I give in, if I let go, I will vanquish my fears. This is bliss, truly.
A-Ma smiles at the vast quantities of food. This pleases me because she so rarely smiles.
She says, Not like lazy cookie man, hah?
Feeling benevolent, I smile at my parents. No, not like him, I say. Now, eat (125)."
"Nǐ hǎo?" My facetious colleague waves his hand in my face. "Aren't you heading home? I gave him a puzzling look, forgetting where I was. I stared out the classroom window forgetting that class had ended, back to reality.
What was that? Quitting my job and going to New York? I wish I could afford such a risk. I can hear them now complaining, "Why would you have the need to go somewhere else? Don't you have everything you need right here?" As if they'd understand. Not that it wouldn't be nice, it's just with my parents gone I feel almost empty. But, then again was I ever truly full? I grabbed my things and headed for the door. It's raining. I'm stuck, trapped, caged. Even in my deepest and darkest fantasies they plague my existence like famine. Maybe I should go to New York and live free of their famine. Everyone's famine. This plague has to end but, what can I really do? My parents, now dead, have left me with nothing but the most bittersweet of tastes.
I'm "home" now if that's what you can call it. A place where I'm haunted by the moments and the memories of their voices. Their words; their famine. The fear and loathing of eating has eaten me to the bone. This isn't home anymore. I think I've gone rotten.
My house has gotten older somehow. I can feel the lack of attention my door gets as the voice mails keep piling. Not that anyone cared. Of course, in famine who does? In my home famine has conquered all. I can see them now. Smiling with their contaminated hands reaching for me. This is it, the end of famine and everyone wants a piece. This had been the most I had ever felt free and I didn't need any big buck city to feel it.
After all, I have had my fill of famine.
Works Cited
Henry S. Karen, editor. Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature Reading, Thinking, Writing. 11th e.d. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017.
Xu, Xi. "Famine." Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature Reading, Thinking, Writing. 11th e.d, edited by Karen S. Henry, Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017, pp. 116-125
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A Prequel, Sequel and In Between
ContoThis was a part of a project that my professor called a, "Prequel, Sequel and In Between Assignment". Where I attempted to create an "In Between" scenario for a story by, Xu Xi titled, "Famine". I was quite proud of how it turned out so I've decided...
