Man vs Food

This little silly short story is based on my own experience, lol. I'm kind of ashamed because the event taking place in the story happened in my life and I was the main character. I don't know why, but I was inspired to write about them and I did. I changed a few things here and there but in essence it's me re-living something that happened. I wonder, am I the only one to at times obssess over food like that? I don't have any mental illness but there are times where I obssess over specific food (almost always junk food!). Anyway, hope you enjoy!


Wednesday or Thursday, Thursday or Wednesday. Hayley had gone back and forth for hours, weighting the pro and cons and daydreaming about her eventual meal. Finally, she had settled for Wednesday, as long as she had the-go from her scale. “I just need a little rest,” she had rationalized. “I’ll go back to normal eating right after.” Besides, if she waited a day more, she had been afraid a tornado would strike, that the world would end or that her mother would unexpectedly get sick and need her for the whole day.

That morning the angels of skinniness had been with her. Hayley smiled when her scale showed 123 pounds. She had never been fat, but overindulging coupled with lack of exercises, had seen her slightly increase in size. She hated to look at her puffier face in the mirror. This is why, lately her scale and vegetables had become her strongest and trickiest allies.

Now, she waited. That’s what she had been doing since she awakened this morning. Preparing her children and bringing them to school at killed some time. But once, she came back home, her clock still wasn’t where she needed it to be and she had nothing to take her mind out of it. There were disadvantages to being on holydays. At first, she decided to take a little nap, to waste time, but for once after a while she found her bed unattractive. Still, she’d done well. It was 20 past 11. Only 40 minutes left to wait. She went back to the living room, grabbed Thicker Than Water and settled on her sofa. Reading would have to occupy her for half an hour and 10 minutes. It was a book she enjoyed and meant to finish for a long time. But her eyes kept on looking up at the clock, in spite of her effort to avert them. 40 minutes. 30 minutes. 24 minutes. She felt like someone about to see their favourite singer live at a concert. 20 minutes. It takes ages, she thoughts. 15 minutes. 10 minutes. Almost there! 5 minutes…A smile tugged Hayley’s lips. Her heart made leaps and bounds in her chest but she tried to keep her cool. She turned the TV on. Hayley had always liked watching a nice show while eating. She zapped channels until she found something to her liking. She settled for channel 6, Law and Order would do it.

There and then she put her foot down, in a blink of an eye, she put on her jacket, took the necessary coins (she made sure she had enough money) and with a spring in her heels, she hit the street.
She was so excited, her body was almost shaking. Morleys was close to her home, but that day, she walked the metres that separated them in a blur.

“Sixteen wings and chips please,” she told the Indian or Pakistanese guy at the counter when he asked for her order. She looked at him intently wondering if he would comment on the size of order. She knew her husband would have. It was one of the reasons why her overeating sessions were always in private. “It could be for many people. He could think so” she told herself. There was a smirk tugging the corner of the man’s mouth but he said nothing.

When she was handed her box of chicken and her bag of chips, she felt she had just gone to heaven. She walked back home as quickly as she had went out. Her jacket and the money in it seemed cumbersome; she tossed them on the cupboard carelessly. The shoes at her feet didn’t receive a better treatment.

That done, she rushed in the kitchen to take a plate, a glass and a bottle of water and sat down on the sofa to do what she’s been daydreaming about since the day before. There was no preamble, she dive right into it without a second or even a first thought. She ate and ate and ate; only briefly stopping to sip some water. The sounds coming from the TV barely registered in her ears. She finished the chips first because the chicken was still a little too hot for her taste.

Her favourite part came last.

Perhaps, it was the spice, the crusty breadcrumb or the meat itself or even the ketchup and mayo, she always accompanied it with, Hayley wasn’t sure which, but God she loved the fried chicken. The chips were good too, but the chicken was a world in itself. When the first piece of chicken met her tongue, it felt like her taste buds had found their long-lost lover and was singing their love to him. She gobbled the rest of her meal with equal enthusiasm. Before long, swallowed under a red and white sea of sauce there was only six wings left in the box. Then, there was only three. Her stomach protested for the last two, but Hayley pretended not to hear its complaint. She closed her meal with a glass of water, so full, she could barely walk.

“Now back to a serious diet,” she thoughts. However, she wondered if it would really be too much to eat the two snickers left in the kitchen or a bag of crisp, just one of course.

“Just that and then I’m done eating for the day. And tomorrow, I’ll get back in track,” she told herself as she entered the kitchen.