Tuesday

She double checks with me. “La lenguas? You want tongue?” What she means to say is,

white people don’t order tongue burritos. I just nod and wait for my order. The dimly-lit,

late-night Mexican joint just a few blocks from my house is nearly empty. Only a young couple

and I occupy the small dining room. I think it’s past midnight. At least one. But I'm hungry.

I look at the menu. The restaurant is called “Four Burritos”. The logo is four smiling

donkeys. “Burro” means donkey in spanish. Burrrrrrrrrrro. Burrrrrrrrito.

I ask for the food to-go, but I sit in the restaurant to eat my meal. The burrito is perfectly

packaged, a fat rectangular conglomerate of onions, orange and green peppers, rice, refried

beans, cotija cheese and yes, beef tongue. I munch into the first bite and God, it’s delicious. Tasty

yellow oil squeezes out of the bottom. I sop up the liquid with a dry piece of tortilla and keep

going. Second bite has to be strategic; I picked up the burrito wrong. It’s spilling meat and

cheese at a rapid pace, so I open my mouth as wide as I can and chomp down. More oil spills,

but I can’t worry about that now. The tortilla is unraveling! I deep dive into the burrito. My jaw

unhinges. I shove half of the burrito into my mouth. I can’t get enough of this food.

Why the fluorescent lights above me begin to flicker, and the floor starts to rumble, I

don’t know. I keep eating the greasy goodness in front of me, and I do it fast because something

is happening. I start not to feel good, & the lady at the register is looking at me funny. My jaw

hangs from my mouth like a swing. That’s when I feel it.

A black hole opens in the back of my throat. The pull of gravity starts to yank on my

jowls, so I jerk the bottom half of my face towards the ground. To widen my mouth. To make

room for what is coming. I start to swallow the tables and chairs around me. The young couple is

frozen in fear, but it’s ok. I eat them too. I eat the register, the grill, the chef and the cashier. I eat

the walls and the awning and the patio table outside.

I stand in the carnage and find a construction worker across the street, admiring my work.

“Big appetite, huh?”