Death Rehearsals

[Beirut, 12/13/20]

In Kracheh, Cambodia, a Chinese shopowner showed up at a café before dawn with a baguette. Sitting down at its only table, he broke off equal pieces for each of us, including me, whom he had never seen. In Vietnam, only the very poor would eat bread with nothing. In Phnom Penh and Chennai, I also saw men eating just bread for breakfast.

In Pasco, Washington, Mexican farm laborers would start their long days with the sweetest coffee and the biggest donuts I have ever seen. A drunk midget might try using one as an inflatable tube. Not content with the cheap labor extracted from these illegals, the US came up with a scheme to import Thais. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, they were overworked for months, but there was no escape. When this scandal broke, it was mostly ignored. As long as American fridges could be filled with cheap enough grocery, all was well.

Only the most spoiled from cradle to grave would think such a common word was old fashioned. It’s sickeningly hilarious that such a brat has become a messiah for those who can barely pay for discount grocery. Transfat, corn syrup, maltodextrin, aspartame, tallow, reconstituted chicken, reformed beef and bullshit can’t be good for brain functions.