(Self-portrait of the photographer, David Blackwell, eating a piece of meat at a butchery. Taken on July 13th, 2013, posted on Flickr)
Even the butcher, the guy who's around meat twenty-four seven can't serve a steer to save his life! Seriously, half of his stock was either premature, under-frozen, or both! Beef, pork, lamb, all worthless! The butcher's worthless, too! Couldn't even make something filling on his last day. You think he'd put more effort into it.
And now I've stalked and sat through the hours before the rooster would caw, hoping home-bred meat from the barn would make a difference, but nope! Even after that damn dog and cat, rumbling, rumbling, rumbling! What's it gonna take to make it stop?!
"Robin? Are you in here? It's damn near ten! We're gonna be late for mass."
Mass? Hah! I've heard enough from that senile Father, always droning on and on to me about 'distress in excess' and how it brings you closer to sin or whatever. If you ask me, it's all a bunch of hogwash!
The average human being only needs three things to survive: money, food, and sex. Naturally, it should fall that the more you can get, the more stable your life is! But I'm not going to have a stable anything if I don't fill my stomach! Oh, god, I need something to eat, now!
"C'mon, Robin, there's nowhere else you could be. We're gonna get breakfast after. Aren't you always prattling on that it's your most important meal of the day or something?"
Breakfast?
Hey, yeah, breakfast. Maybe home-cooked food is just what I need after all.
We could even invite the Father, and all the townsfolk from the pulpit to the steeple. No reason they should miss the most important meal.
I'll even bring my own knife set! You can't go wrong with being prepared to eat, especially with so many people. I'll eat 'til the table's clean and the chairs are bare.
"Robin!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Just let me grab my knives before we head out!"
After all, Robin's tummy's rumbling, and it's gonna stop one way or another.
Author's Note: The source for this story comes from two nursery rhymes. The first is about a man named Robin who ate everything from beef to man and still complained that he wasn't full. The second is about another Robin and his accomplice Richard awaking at ten in the morning to the routines of farm animals. The former served as the main basis, while the latter was used for minor world-building.
This disturbing brain-child of a story stemmed from the cannibalistic and nihilistic implications of the former to create a POV from a man riddled by boundless gluttony and impure thoughts. The hard part was writing it so that it seemed like it came from someone's actual insane thought process yet still keeping some parts ambiguous until the end. I have a very twisted mind, as you can probably tell. Hopefully the effect got across well.
Bibliography: Page 66 of The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang
Collin, I found your story to be very entertaining. I also thought it was really clever of you to combine inspiration from two tales of two different Robins. I definitely think it was one of the most original stories I've read. Most people, in classes like these choose happier stories, but I really liked that you chose darker elements like cannibalism. It was definitely refreshing to be reminded that not all my writing has to be happy. I really enjoyed this story!
ReplyDeleteI love the stream of consciousness form you chose for this story. I really felt like I was in the head of a madman who would do anything to fill his insatiable appetite. You did a great job of instilling a feeling of urgency, and the cannibalism was a nice touch. You successfully combined the two nursery rhymes into a single, cohesive work, which can often be tough. Something tells me this is going to be a very creative and interesting blog. Keep up the good work!
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