Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Leo M. & The Piece Of Chicken

When I stashed the piece of Kentucky Fried Chicken behind the bed of Leo M. I knew it wasn't the best course of action. It was his birthday party, we were in his room enjoying birthday lunch. I had a drumstick which was fine but the second piece I grabbed was one of those plump on one side and gristly bones on the other. I got grossed out and I snuck it away from me behind the furniture, embarrassed for not being able to eat it.
    When was it discovered ? I have no way of knowing. Did it get the chance to go green and fuzzy ? Is that what neglected KFC does ? Maybe it just dries out. Did Leo 'get the beats' because of it ? He probably got them anyway. It may have explained his general behaviour. We were friends and classmates but he was kinda no-good. Friendly one day and just a jerk another day. He could have easily blamed his shitty little friends. The house was full of kids. I think his family had some problems. The rumours surrounding his sister later on were disturbing too. A good student who either committed suicide or got pregnant or turned to prostitution. Or all three. The grape vine was tangled.
    In grade seven we were both running for the bus in the morning on our way to school, getting off the 163 and running to make our connection. The 17 ? I forget. In any case, while we were running across a very busy street to catch the second bus which was about to leave the stop, Leo thought it would be funny if he tripped me. I went down, broke my fall with my hands and fractured my left wrist. Little gravel bits stuck in my palms. I wore a cast for a few weeks. All my friends signed it and drew pictures. My father cut it off me in the garage instead of going to the doctor to have it removed. I remember it smelled bad. I can't remember if I let Leo sign it. That would have been dumb. I know I didn't smash his teeth in with it. I was way too nice. I didn't start becoming an occasional jerk until university I think. Leo started drugs pretty early.
    He lived a few houses down from us for a while. He came over to my house a couple of times. It was just before the chicken episode, that same afternoon, when I noticed in his room a little Matchbox chopper motorcycle painted sloppily black. It was confusing. It made me realize that it had been a while since I saw my little yellow Matchbox chopper. I couldn't really process it. This is years before he tripped me. Did I hide the chicken as an act of revenge for the stolen toy ? Did he trip me years later for my chicken slip ? Man, who knows ?