Happy Meals
Share Article Immediately after 9/11 world children scrambling through dust pawed soil looking for energy cells. Emergency air raid sirens exploded. Everyone scrambled into bombed out buildings.
"Hey, check this out," said a hungry refugee, "I found a case of Democracy. The Republican label says it spreads easily."
"Is it crunchy or plain?"
"How do I know? It’s just plain old Democracy."
"I hope it’s better than that old rancid Freedom Sauce. Let’s give it a go. Democracy is a good idea, in theory."
They opened the box, took out a jar, unscrewed the top, grabbed sharp knives, broke bread and slathered on Democracy.
"Wow! This is yummy."
"Yeah, well I got some stuck in my throat. It tastes like sand."
"It’s protein."
World tribes collected their Democracy.
"We need more energy," someone said. "We need music, news, a weather forecast. We need to know what’s happened."
"Need a clue? Take a look around you," said an illiterate person. Twin Towers, Iraqi and Syrian villages, and Afghan mountains smoldered on the immediate horizon.
"It looks desperate," said one.
"Eye, it does," said another. "It’s always darker before the dawn."
Sirens stopped and they emerged from darkness.
"We need shelter," said a family gathering leftovers from the World Bank. 65 million internally displaced people struggled toward hopeful futures. They sang, “Give me shelter. Shelter from the storm.”
"Beware those who live on dreams," said a rationalist.
"We need a committee," said a company man. "We need order."
"May I take your order?" requested a disembodied voice from a black box in a drive-thru combat zone.
"One happy meal to go," cried a distraught family trapped in a massive traffic jam. It was bumper to bumper on the highway of death between the airport and Baghdad.
Where the rubber met the road.
Their digestive systems were backed up for miles with sugar, fat, grease and carbohydrates.
"Consider the essentials will you," pleaded a small voice from the back seat trying to get a dial tone, trying to get through, trying to find a rhythm inside swirling chaos.
It threatened to swallow everyone into a black hole sucking everything into a parallel universe.
