Rotisserie Chicken – 365 Flash Fiction #37

By vinodnarayan on July 6, 2014 • ( 0 )

He saw the look in her eyes, and the face spoke a lot of her plight. it had a sadness so deep routed within the wrinkles in her face giving an impression that she had been carrying it with her for generations. He looked at the kid sitting next to her who was similar to any other kid and was also on the heavier side to say. She was probably determined on making sure that the sadness that she carried from years of oppression should end with her and no sign of it should be seen in the kid and his future ahead

She was sitting at the entrance of a super market and held a board that read in broken english that she had lost her job and had three kids and need money for food and rent. He gave them a glance and stepped into the super market. A few minutes later as the face of the woman kept coming to his mind, he stopped abruptly and rushed out. He walked up to the lady and enquired if he can buy them anything, vegetables, food, anything. Apparently the lady did not speak english and the kid was the one to answer in broken english “Some food, chicken better”. As the kid got up and started following him into the store, he signed NO and said he will bring it. He did not know why he did that but he probably thought he did not want to take the responsibility of a kid inside the store. The lady asked her son to stay back.

He had initially thought of buying some vegetables, but not sure if they had a place to cook, he walked over to the counter and took a Rotisserie Chicken, which he felt would feed the whole family at least for one time. He also picked two loafs of bread to go with the chicken. He walked around making his own personal purchases and it must have taken him over an hour to settle the bills and come out of the store. He walked to the corner where he had seen the lady and the kid. Not seeing them there; he walked all around the store and then looked around the parking lot. It was getting dark and he wondered how long he had to wait.

He slowly moved towards his car and placed all the food in his car and one last time again looked all around to see if they were to be seen anywhere. He was not sure what had happened. May be the security asked them to leave, or may be it was dark and she did not want to wander with her son around the unknown parking lot. May be they did not believe him.

Should he have allowed the kid to follow him inside. Would they have got their dinner for the day. Were they real or was it just his imagination. He drove off with the smell of rotisserie chicken filling the car still wondering if the whole episode was real. The chicken was, but he did not know about the lady and the kid and he has not seen them ever since.