Friday, December 5, 2014

The Fall: Chapter 2. Gluttony

Huang Ming is the CEO of Huang Ming Inc., a company renowned for producing and selling various electronic devices manufactured through the Huang Ming Technology—a patented engineering concept developed by Huang Ming himself. 

Therefore, I can only meet up with Huang Ming in his office, located at the 78th floor of the Huang Ming Tower, which is also the highest floor. This tower is located in the nearest town, known as the Huang Ming Town, dedicated to the glorious Huang Ming himself. It is not too far from here.

I am hungry. I have not eaten for days, or weeks. I am unsure of the time I spent unconscious. Nevertheless, I have to eat. Huang Ming believes that food is energy, and an energy-depleted person is an inefficient person. However, edible food is scarce in a place like this.

I walk. I jog. I run. I stop to watch as pigeons fly by. I am getting bored. I walk.
                                                  
I see a very skinny young man, around his early teens, walking opposite of my direction. He is munching on French Fries. He does not eat one at a time; he munches all at once. Within three seconds, the entire box of fries is empty. I ask him if he has another box. I kneel down and beg. He pities me, but refuses to offer another box, although it is obvious that his right hand is holding another box filled with fries.

“I love to eat, but all my friends laugh at me because I was fat! Now I have to starve to be thin, but I can’t help it, I need to eat!”

This poor young man’s story is so sorrowful that I immediately shed a tear. Huang Ming would’ve shed a flood of tears. I remove my mask and hand it to him. He wears it. He shall not face the cruel judgement of society ever again!

“You are now reborn.”

“I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you, mister! I know that I might seem ungrateful, but I am feeling very lucky!”

He hands me his full box of fries and walks off.

I walk while eating fries. They are very salty. I cannot withstand such abuse of natural salts. How can one enjoy food with this much salt? Salt is used to enhance taste, not completely smother it. Yet, I am a starving man, so I eat. I munch. I chew. I spit. My stomach is bloated, but my tongue is sore and dry. I have energy to walk, yet I do not have energy to think nor speak. Huang Ming will not like this. The world is filled with so many types of delicious, nutritious food, and I have to resort to eating salt. Because of this, I am now intensely dehydrated. However, deep down inside, I am confident that Huang Ming will forgive me for this, for I have rescued the lives of two people today.

I spot an ice cream truck parked on the roadside. There is no one in it. The door is unlocked. I enter the truck. It is very congested, only having room for about a single grown man. A row of metal cabinets, counters, sinks and refrigerators are lined up on my left, and sixteen large rectangular containers, filled with various ice cream flavours, lined up on my right. Sixteen! Who can possibly resist ice cream? Even Huang Ming loves desserts! Desserts make Huang Ming a happy man, provided that Huang Ming does not eat to the point of excessive pleasure! I pick up a metal scooper. I reach for the metal container filled with chocolate ice cream, scoop it up, and eat it.

It is drugged.

I know what drugs taste like. The ice cream is mixed with nicotine, giving it a mildly peppery, slightly spicy flavour. I do not doubt myself. The owner of this truck wants everyone to get addicted to their ice cream! Huang Ming will be devastated at this.

I open the refrigerator. It is nothing but a big, cold empty box, with one giant container, about half my height (and I’m rather tall), filled with vanilla ice cream. I scoop it up and eat it.

I only taste sweetness and heaven, nothing else, no drugs. The owner must have been keeping a container to indulge himself! He abuses the addictive qualities of nicotine to earn enough money to cover the fact that he has been stealing ice cream!

This is unacceptable. Huang Ming hates drugs, but he hates gluttons more. I have to find the bastard responsible for this and teach him a lesson!

I eat just enough ice cream to fill me up, but not too much as not to pleasure myself. Huang Ming believes that if the physical pleasure of eating cannot be controlled, then other pleasures such as wealth, fame, and drugs will overcome us!

I spot another white mask on the counter next to the refrigerator. I wear it.

I leave the truck. I see a man, roughly in his late teens running towards me. He must be the truck’s owner. I will never run. I have to lecture him for his breach of customer trust.

The man appears to be frightened of me, not because of my looks, but because of my insistence to stay and not run away. He bow his head.

“I… have no food at home. I have no family, so I have to work by myself. I am forever a reject due to my poor background. I do not intend to betray the customers’ trust, I only want… food…”

He spoke with sincerity, I can feel that. Huang Ming can definitely feel that as well. I remove my mask and give it to him. He wears it. He no longer will be labelled as “that poor man”, but rather, “the man who works hard”.

“You are now reborn.”

“Thank… you!”

His eyes struggle to cage in his vast amount of tears. He leaves.

However, I am still very thirsty. As I approach the town, I find five filled bottles on the ground to the right of me. Right next to them is a white mask. I pick it up and wear it.

“Ya need a drink?”

A man appears behind me. He seems rather young, probably in his early twenties, but has the look of a seventy-year-old, with saggy eyes, hunched back, veins protruding through the skin. He looks miserable.

“Dis’ like water to me. Some stuffs mixed; makes me high, ya know? High is good.” The bottles are obviously filled with beer, mixed with some drugs.

“None likes me! Dis shit is ma only friend! I go meet ma boss, I kinda high, just one time! One time! She had stupid face and me fly! Now me here, waitin die!”

Because of one incident, this poor man has lost his future, and now turned into a glutton for alcohol and drugs. I committed suicide due to one incident as well, so I can relate to him. Huang Ming will definitely forgive this man. So I remove my mask and give it to him. He wears it.

“You are now reborn.”

“Ya know, I love ya bro! When my high go fly, I go work till I die!”

He leaves. I find a sixth bottle right behind me. It is filled with water. What a coincidence! I finish the entire bottle in five big gulps. Huang Ming must be very proud of me! Huang Ming must be a hap…

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