Chicken Wings

She was everything to me
My air, my water, my food
Then we went to the chicken wing place with her old friends
I hadn’t met them before
They were a boisterous group
And Stanley, her old boyfriend was there
When he looked at me from across the table and asked
‘Hey Chief, you like your wings hot?’
I looked over at her
Her eyes were telling me to be strong
‘Yeah. The hotter the better’
I said trying to sound tough
I never should have said that
I should have got up and run
She didn’t know about my sensitive stomach
Or my attachment to stool softening products
‘Order the Volcanic Express Wings’
Stanley yelled
The place went quiet
Everyone looked at our table
‘Bring’m on’
Stanley yelled again
The waitress with the thalidomide arms
Ran over, started ringing a bell that hung over the bar
What had I got myself into?
Stanley came and sat beside me
‘Let the games begin. Let’s see who can eat the most eh Chief?’
He slapped me on the back
I sat in silence
She looked at me and smiled
And she scrunched up her crooked nose
When she did that I was filled with love once again
I had to do her proud
The bell kept ringing
Her little tiny arms pulling and pulling
The wings came
I feel their heat even before they reached the table
A plate for Stanley
A plate for me
‘Time us…5 minutes…who can eat the most’
Stanley was licking his lips
Go!
I picked up the first wing and jammed into my mouth
It wasn’t so bad
Gobble Gobble Gobble
One down and I’m thinking ‘what‘s the fuss?’
I’m half way thru the second one
And things start to happen
I’m beginning my third
My eyes start to water
I’m into my fourth and fifth
Gobble Gobble Gobble
Now everything is on fire
My lips, my tongue, my throat
I can feel the sweat dripping down my forehead
Everyone is yelling
The bell is still ringing
The madness continues
Even my fingers are burning
The fire keeps going down further
My esophagus and into my stomach
She is watching me
Loving me
Knowing I’m doing this for her
She doesn’t realize my stomach is weak
From years of worrying and tension
I feel a tiny bit of blood seeping from my left ear
I continue to eat
Gobble Gobble Gobble
I can feel my stomach filling
I can feel the fire burning me from inside out
I feel the stretching of my stomach wall as it weakens
The burning chicken acid boiling hot in my intestines
I’m over twenty wings now
And still eating
The waitress with thalidomide arms
Is still making the bell chime
The sound makes me sick
My stomach finally bursts
No one but me knows
My stomach wall has a hole in it now
Volcanic Express Chicken wings are now floating about
In my body cavity
Burning up every internal organ they touch
I’m going to die
I know it
I put my head back gasping
My mouth open wide
My lips and chin stained red
I look at Stanley
He’s hurting but smiling
Gobble Gobble Gobble
I’m starting to loose consciousness
My internals are ruined
I’ll be eating thru a tube for the rest of my life
More wings
I feel the wall of my stomach rip more
A bucket full to the brim
Spilling out chicken wing fire
I focus hard and look at her
She is looking at me
Sensing something
Sensing that maybe I’m not as strong as she thinks?
I eat more
I’m two handing them into my mouth
I hear someone yell
‘He’s bleeding from his ears!’
‘Oh yeah honey, you should see what my insides are doing?’
I want to say but I can’t
I’m beyond help now
Gobble Gobble Gobble
The fire has raced right down me and thru my intestines
I am at point of no return
Someone near me says ‘Something smells weird?’
No kidding Sherlock
I think to myself
You’d emit strange smells if you were eating hot lava
How much more time?
Gobble Gobble
Some of the juice dripped from my chin and onto my lap
I can feel it burning thru my jeans and onto my privates
The crowd was screaming and the bell was still ringing
This was my Vietnam
My Afghanistan
My Titanic
Suddenly hands reach out and take the bowl of wings away
The same is done to Stanley
It’s over
I stand up and barely able to concentrate
I stagger towards the door
I see a few bartenders wrestling the thalidomide bell ringer
In an effort to make her stop pulling the cord
I reach the door
And burst out into the night
I awake weeks later in the hospital
Alone…uncomfortable
Tubes are running out of me in every direction
Then I realize tiny little hands
Are pushing the hair from away from my eyes
Tiny little hands of someone who knows about discrimination and hardship
I’ll be alright
Love can overcome anything
Even Volcano Express Chicken Wings