John sat staring at his plate. He couldn't believe his eyes. The food looked so good it made his mouth water. Under any other circumstances, he would have been digging into the food already and adding another couple of inches to his expanding waistline. He had a problem, however, a really big problem. How was he going to tell his mother-in-law and his wife that he didn't want any of the delicious-looking food sitting in front of them?

He looked up from the plate to see his wife staring at him. "John, yu not eating?" "A kinda feel sick, mi appetite gone." Just as he was about to suggest that they eat his share, he remembered that what he didn't want, couldn't eat, he really should not be giving to his wife or for that matter to her mother. After all, they were so good to take him out for his birthday. He didn't realise at the time that it would be this particular restaurant and by the time he did, he was hoping that the food would be so bad they wouldn't bother to eat.

He really had no choice. He had to tell them. The manager of the restaurant came over to ask them if everything was okay after they paid the bill in full but left the food untouched. John took charge at that point and told him they had an emergency and had to leave. No, they would not take the food, they were in too much of a hurry.

His wife and mother-in-law sat in stunned silence as he told them of the reasons for his unwillingness to eat. John had always been a hustler. He had got in with some friends who were supplying bulk food items to restaurants and cook shops in and around the city. They were selling the items at extra special prices and the buyers didn't ask why the prices were so good. But John knew why, and he also knew the bigger restaurants to which they had sold most of the products. This was one of them.

John then went on to tell them of the contaminated food he had been selling and the sources he got them from. His confessions were very hard to make as they showed him to be a heartless, money-seeking person. He had a feeling that he would need to find somewhere to eat other than at home for some time to come.

Ann Marie Rodriques

PeaceWater Services

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