Mystery Meat
Sheila, Yami, and Deron have been friends since the days they were born. Their mothers would often get together after school hours to allow their children to play while they have their tea. Today would be no different. As the young cheetah, panda, and wolf pup play together in Yami's room, all their problems go away. No bullies at school will make them feel bad, no homework, and especially no yucky school lunches; instead, Yami's mother makes the most delicious cupcakes in town. Sheila, being a cheetah, never really liked the idea of eating bamboo, but Yami's mother always prepared it in such a way that made it sweet and soft. Deron also preferred meats over bamboo - preferring a thick slab of beef or ham, but for some reason, Yami's mother's cupcakes were simply the best.
As Yami presses a button on her mp3 player, music bursts through the speakers and fills the room. Plopping down on a beanbag chair, Yami brings a bamboo muffin to her mouth and takes a big bite.
"Your mom makes the best muffins, Yami! Still not sure how you pandas like bamboo all the time, but when your mom makes 'em, wow!" Deron barks, wagging his wolf tail and taking a bite.
"Right? She should open a bakery," Sheila purrs, chewing on her bits of muffin.
"That would be neat," Yami giggles, bouncing her foot to the song in the room, "But our house is a little small to be turned into a bakery."
"Could always have the lunch lady at school hand 'em out," Deron jokes, "Though she'd mess 'em up... putting fish and shoes in it or something."
The children laugh at Deron's joke, crumbs falling to their laps as they eat their muffins. Sheila scoffs, stuffing the rest of her muffin into her mouth.
"You know? Speaking of lunch lady... I think tomorrow's lunch is hot dogs," Sheila says.
"Again? Didn't we have that like, two days ago?" Yami asks, sitting up in her beanbag chair.
"Yeah, but you know all the meat in school is just recycled." Deron responds.
"Is not!" Sheila laughs, "That's gross! It's just hot dogs."
"No, I'm serious! I heard a kid talkin' about it yesterday at recess!" Deron argues, "He said he saw the lunch lady digging some out of the garbage and throwing it back into the freezer."
"That sounds like something Mack would say," Yami scoffs, "It was Mack, wasn't it?"
"It might have been..." Deron says, slouching back against Yami's bed next to Sheila, "Still, I don't really believe _that_part. I think the truth is... you know the school's hamburgers and sloppy joe mix tastes the same, right? I think they save the left overs... and grind it up and add stuff to it so nobody knows."
"That's not true... quit being gross, Deron!" Sheila growls, "The hot dogs are just hot dogs."
Yami, smirking and seeing Sheila getting uneasy slowly crawls toward her, "You know... I've heard that the lunch lady actually makes her food out of students."
"Yami... ew, knock it off!" Sheila scoffs, crossing her arms, "That's disgusting."
"No, it's true!" Yami grumbles, "It's true... if the lunch lady hears you say anything bad about her cooking, she'll keep you after lunch to help her clean - or so she says," Yami smirks.
"So? What does that have to do with the meat?" Deron asks.
"That's just it... the minute everyone is gone from the cafeteria... she cuts off a couple toes... throws 'em into the pot and cooks them up." Yami creeps closer to Sheila, whispering, "So don't insult the cook... boo!"
"Aagh!" Sheila roars, "Knock it off!" Sheila scowls, pushing Yami to her back. Yami grabs her toes and giggles, rocking on her back, as young pandas do.
Deron smirks a bit and giggles, soon being startled by Yami's door creaking open. Deron's mother looks inside the room, seeing the kids playing and laughing.
"Deron, honey... it's time to get home," she says.
"Okay, Mom... bye Yami, bye Sheila," Deron smiles, standing and heading toward the door.
"Bye!" the girls call after him.
"Are you leaving tonight too or did your mom say you could stay over?" Yami asks Sheila, rolling onto her belly and resting her head in her paws.
"I can stay over. My mom has my overnight bag with her," Sheila replies, "What are we gonna do tonight? Did you pick a movie?"
"I picked a couple, but since it's a school night, Ma said we could only pick one." Yami replies.
"You don't think what Deron said was true, do ya?" Sheila asks, "Or what you said... is that true?"
"It wouldn't surprise me," Yami giggles.
"So it's not?" Sheila asks, her ears pressed against her skull, "Because... if they did make the school food out of students' toes..."
"Sheila, relax! Come on, pick a movie!" Yami giggles, turning on her small television and opening her VHS player.
The girls fall asleep at the good part: just as the hopeless romantic is about to propose to the girl with a magical pearl ring that comes to live and sings merry tunes in rhymes, the pretty girl ends up having to leave. As the girls sleep, the movie plays on, only becoming background noise as they fall further and further into a land made up of dreams and fairy tales. Unfortunately for Sheila, her dream is much less a fairy tale than it is a nightmare.
Sheila sits in her classroom, reading a snippet of her favorite magazine behind her history book when the bell rings for lunch. The little cheetah can feel her belly growling with hunger; in anticipation, Sheila speeds off to the cafeteria, where a most pleasant aroma fills the air.
_ Chicken a la King and glazed ham fills the racks in the lunch line, along with other delicious delicacies: pizza, burgers of different varieties, lobster, king crab, beef, only the finest meals prepared to perfection. Buttered just right, the shrimp and tuna look exquisite, and the salmon couldn't be any more perfect._
_ "Alright! Yeah! Pizza and lobster and ham! I'm starving!" Sheila's hungry belly makes room for the heaping tray of delicious foods that she piles on. Like a cartoon's stack of items, the pile of food stacks to the ceiling, swaying to and fro, nearly ready to topple over, but it never does._
_ The pile lasts long enough for Sheila to get to her spot with her friends, Yami and Deron, who also have trays heaped high with their own favorites. Yami's tray is piled with salmon, fish, bamboo and different types of salads, whereas Deron's tray is similar to Sheila's, with more beef and ham and less fish._
_ "Man, this stuff's delicious!" says Deron, eating away at his tray of food, stabbing a fork into his pile, and like a cartoon's scenario, a large chunk of the pile, like a puzzle piece, rips right off. Deron shoves the pile of food into his mouth and chews, his cheeks large and puffy like cartoon squirrel's._
_ "Isn't it!? Man, it's so good!" Yami squeals, gnawing and nibbling away at a bamboo stick, thick and juicy, wearing it down from the outside, spinning it. As a cartoon character would eat corn in a typewriter fashion, Yami grinds through stalk after stalk, greens and juice flying everywhere._
_ Sheila can barely keep up with her friends. As she stuffs herself full of delicious food, she can feel her belly getting larger. Soon, she's plump and can barely move. Just as she takes another bite, she feels something odd in her mouth._
_ "Huh? W-what's..." Sheila sticks out her tongue and spits the food into her paw - there she sees two severed toes, one black, and one grey. "Ew! Guys, look at this!"_
_ "We know," Yami and Deron say in unison, raising their feet. Their feet are wrapped in bandages, with little spots of blood where their toes should be._
_ Sheila screams and fails, dropping the toes to the ground, trying to get away. Her large, full belly won't allow her to move._
_ _
Scraping and clawing at her pillow, Sheila's screams wake Yami.
"Sheila!" Yami groans, "Sheila, wake up!"
Sheila wakes up and gasps for air, panting and growling, "Yami! Your toes! They're..." she pants, looking around, frightened, "T-they're in the..."
"My toes? They're fine, see?" Yami says, raising her foot and wiggling her little black toes. "Aw, I shouldn't have teased you like that, Sheila... I'm sorry."
"N-no... it's fine," Sheila says, looking down to her slender, slim belly, "It was just a stupid nightmare... what time is it?"
"Only two... we should get back to sleep."
Sheila nods, laying back down on her sleeping bag and curling into a ball, "Okay... night Yami."
The next day, Sheila wakes up feeling groggy and still uneasy about her strange dream last night. At the breakfast table, Sheila eats slowly, keeping a close watch on her food.
"What's wrong, Sheila?" Yami asks, "You don't like eggs?"
"No, I love eggs," Sheila replies, "Just feeling kinda weird about that dream. What if what you said was true?"
"I was only teasing!"
"No, but... remember when Jackie came back after being gone for a few days? Her foot was all wrapped up!" Sheila whispers, "She said something about her toes, and the lunch lady said not to talk about it in the lunch room!"
"Because her foot was gross and it'd be more gross to talk about it when people are eating!" Yami giggles, "It's fine, Sheila."
"Okay, but what about the time the chicken nuggets were long and tasted... funny?"
"The chicken fingers?"
"Sure... let's call them that." Sheila scoffs, "They tasted weird. You even said so."
Sheila scratches her left ear, "I... guess I remember that. They tasted tough and rubbery."
"See? Tough and rubbery... like... toes?"
The kids sit silently at the breakfast table, staring down at their plates. The silence weighs heavy until Yami looks over at the clock on the wall.
"We better get going. We'll be late!" Yami says, leaping from her chair. Sheila follows after her.
"Thanks, Mrs. Li'ang!" Sheila spouts before leaving the house, following behind Yami. As they run down the street toward their school, the girls slow down to a steady walk to catch their breath.
"Thought cheetahs were supposed to run fast," Yami teases, giggling.
"I can! I'm just.... tired. That dream... it was so real." Sheila sighs, "I'm willing to bet the school lunch really is nasty garbage like toes and leftovers."
"Ugh, okay... how about this. In study period, we'll ask to go to the bathroom," Yami explains, "We'll sneak into the lunchroom's kitchen and have a look around and see if we can find anything out of the ordinary. Okay?"
"Okay... I'm up for that, actually." Sheila nods.
"Deal then. We'll see for ourselves."
After long hours of sitting in boring lectures, doing boring worksheets and waiting on the boring clock to strike eleven, the bell finally sounds for the students to move onto their next classes. Yami and Sheila are to attend their study hall; when the timing is right, the girls will then make their move.
"Are you sure this will work?" Sheila asks.
"You're a cat, aren't you? Just sneak in!" Yami whispers, "Besides... I'd get caught."
"Haven't you seen Kung-Fu Panda?" Sheila jokes, "You could sneak too, you know."
"Very funny... the plan is, you sneak in, and I keep watch," Yami whispers, "and if someone is coming, I'll give the signal: three scratches on the floor."
"How will I hear that?" Sheila whispers, looking to make sure the study hall teacher isn't looking.
"If we're quiet enough, you should be able to hear it without a problem." Yami explains, "Like hearing a pin drop."
Sheila sighs, "Okay, that'll work I guess. When do we make our move, then?"
"Now."
"What?"
Yami waves her paw in the hair and wiggles in her seat, "Teacher! I gotta use the bathroom!" she calls. She leans over to Sheila and whispers, "Wait til the hour hand is on the three before you say you need to go. I'll find ya." Yami hops out of her seat and scurries toward the door, leaving the room.
Huh... that was convincing. She looked like she really had to go. Guess I'll need to do the same.
As the hour hand moves ever slowly toward the number three, Sheila grows anxious, yet eager at the same time. Raising her paw, her squeezes her eyes shut.
"T-Teacher, I gotta use the bathroom," Sheila says, looking to the teacher. The kangaroo lowers her glasses to her nose and nods, allowing Sheila to go.
Wow, that was easy, hah... okay! Sheila stands from her seat and hurries toward the door, leaving and closing the door behind her.
The halls are quiet and strangely stagnant when there are no students in it. Sheila can't really recall a time where she had been in the halls with no movement from at least ten or so students. The emptiness is a bit eerie.
"There you are, good!" Yami whispers, startling Sheila as she touches her tail.
"Eeh!" Sheila growls softly, panting and turning around, "Yami! Ugh... nearly killed me..."
"Oh, don't be such a scaredy-cat. Now come on, let's get to the cafeteria!"
"Wait, at 12:15 is lunch... won't the kitchen be full?" Sheila asks.
"Maybe a little... but that's why we're sending _you_in. You're a cat - you can be super sneaky." Yami smiles, dragging Sheila down the hallway.
Yami and Sheila peer into the cafeteria before quickly making their way to the kitchen door. Sheila's heart pounds rapidly against her ribcage as she presses her back against the wall. Yami takes the same stance on the other wall to the right of the kitchen door.
"This is is - through that door is where the horror happens, Sheila. You'll have to sneak in there, find the meat, and see if you can find any toes or something weird," Yami explains, whispering, "Then, come on out and tell me. If someone's coming or if I get caught, trust me - you'll know."
Sheila gulps, and without a word she closes her eyes and lowers herself to all fours. Sneaking like a feral beast, she slips through the doorway and begins her search.
The cafeteria's kitchen looks rather clean - and it actually smells good. The smell of pizza baking fills the room. Slipping under a trolley, Sheila remains still, looking around. She can see the lunch lady, a peacock, opening a big can of applesauce, pouring it into a serving tray. Then she opens baby carrots, dip, and other fruits and pours them all into serving trays.
No sign of anything weird... maybe I should go over... what, what? Sheila squints her eyes a bit, peering over near a full garbage can. A tin can labeled "Imitation" lays on it's side. So it is just imitation meat! I knew it! Now we can just...
"Ahem..." sounds a voice from above Sheila.
Sheila looks up to see that the trolley has moved. The lunch lady stares down at her, looking rather unimpressed, and a bit angry, "What are you doing here without permission, young lady?"
"I uh... I was just..." Sheila says, looking to the door. Yami is scratching vigilantly at the floor, but then stops once she sees Sheila scowl at her.
"You know this is going to give you automatic detention, don't you?"
"Y-yes ma'am..." Sheila says, standing up and lowering her ears, "I'm sorry... there's just... rumors going around that..."
"Let me guess, rumors about the meat?" the peacock scoffs, ruffling her feathers, "My food is clean, nutritious, and always fresh. The only reason why people think it's so scary is because of the kitchen equipment!"
"I know... I-I know, ma'am... I just... it was my friend's idea... Yami. She's outside the door, there." Sheila says pointing.
Yami gasps as she hangs her head, opening the door, slowly entering. "Sorry Miss Hera..."
"Sorry indeed..." the peacock scoffs, "I understand, though... when I was your age, the lunch room was a house of horror, serving toes and leftover gruel. But... rules are rules. You'll both have to serve detention - if not from coming here without permission, but skipping class!"
The girls hold their hands behind their backs, looking to their feet, "Yes ma'am."
Sitting in the detention room, Sheila can hear her mother talking to the principal in the next room over. Yami's mother is with them. Luckily, Sheila's mother doesn't seem too angry. As usual, Yami's mother is calm and patient.
Sheila raises an ear to better hear what's being said.
"So, are they mad?" Yami asks.
Sheila shakes her head, "Nah... our mom's seem pretty cool about it. I mean it's not like we skipped math or an important class... Oh, your mom laughed!"
"What're they talking about?" Yami asks.
"Our moms are just kind of brushing it off... my mom just said she'll talk to us about skipping class," Sheila presses her ear closer to the wall, "The principal seems okay, too." Sheila pulls away from the wall and sits in her chair, smiling, "Guess we're not in that much trouble."
"Still, what'd you see in there?" Yami asks.
"Well, it looked like... a kitchen." Sheila says, shrugging, "And I was right. The meat is just imitation. Soy stuff. Nothing to worry about at all."
"Don't you mean I was right? I told you I was just kidding!" Yami says, crossing her arms.
"Okay, okay... fine. But, wait 'til Deron realizes he was panicking over nothing."
After school, the girls are given a lecture about the importance of not skipping a class, followed by the stories of when their mothers were children, doing the very same things they were doing.
Sheila's mother was once so skeptical about why her History teacher, Mr. Lanzer was so uptight and crabby all the time. Turned out it was only a front to get kids to pay attention. Mr. Lanzer was actually the kindest bear Sheila's mother had ever met.
Yami was also a school-lunch activist. Suspecting that Miss Hera's lunch was leftover gruel from a prison, she was determined to prove herself right and spread awareness, hoping to get organic foods into the school. Turned out she ended up right were Yami and Sheila are today.
"I guess it's fine, then," Sheila smiles, "I think I'd rather have Miss Hera's pizza than gruel any day."
"Me too!" Yami giggles, "Want to watch a movie tonight?"
"Sure... but nothing about food, please."