"Hungry"

By Sister Rose

Posted for Gibasi

Disclaimer: The characters of "The O.C." belong to Fox and no infringement on those rights is intended in this fictional work.

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When the boy sat down to the table, he was hungry.

But he didn't reach for the food first. He had learned better than that.

He waited for the father to fill a plate. Then the mother, then the older brother. The hungry boy waited, mouth watering, for his turn, hoping there would be enough left to fill part of his plate and at least part of his hunger. It was a good day. There were some beans left, and he could smell the bacon in them.

The first time the hungry boy visited a friend, the boy knew he was supposed to wait to be called to the table. And he knew he was supposed to wait his turn.

Hungry as he was, he still hoped that perhaps his friend's parents would notice his good manners and compliment him on them.

As he waited his turn, he was surprised to hear, "Go ahead and fill a plate." He had never heard that invitation before.

Unsure but hungry, he filled his plate with heaping helpings of every dish on the table. He ate quickly and was surprised when he looked up to see the others were just getting started. He was embarrassed when he realized everyone was watching him eat. He realized he had gotten too much. He put a slice of bread back in the basket and watched how everyone else used their forks. He would know how next time.

Later that evening, when he was in the bathroom, he heard his friend's mother through the walls. "Did you see that boy eat? He has the table manners of a bear."

The next morning, the hungry boy refused breakfast. "No, thank you," he said, not even looking at the neatly set table.

When the hungry boy's family started living in a motel, the boy learned to cook. Puberty had begun, and hunger was a more constant companion than the boy had ever known.With one skillet and one burner that had to be hidden from the motel manager every day and no refrigeration, the boy learned to make eggs and bacon. The odors filled the room until the boy was sick of them, but at least the mother could keep eggs and bacon down.

While he was washing the skillet one night, he heard the motel manager tell the night clerk, "They're just like all the other pigs who here. Living in that stink. As long as they come up with the rent, we don't hassle them about the smell."

After that, the boy learned to eat cold cereal straight from the generic bag.

At school, the hungry boy learned he could get half-price lunches that he could eat in the school cafeteria. He thought for a minute about his classmates watching him eat and knowing he couldn't afford to pay. "No, thank you," he told the teacher.

When the hungry boy started working at the grocery store, the owner tried to send him home with overripe produce. "It's part of your wages," he said.

"No, thank you," the boy said, looking away from the apples he wanted and paying for the peanut butter and bread he could afford.

When the hungry boy visited a girlfriend, she wanted a late-night snack. "Let's make a grilled cheese," she said.

The boy watched her hands carefully. Something he could make in a skillet. Maybe the mother would like it. The girlfriend offered the boy half. "No, thank you," he said.

At a dinner table a few years later, the boy's new guardian watched him anxiously.

"Would you like some more, Ryan?" she said.

He looked at her quickly, wondering with a sick stomach which food rule he had broken. He stopped stirring his plate with his fork and put it down.

"No, thank you," he said.