MIDDLE GROUND

Chapter 3: HOTPOT

Chapter
III
Hotpot

***

As soon as Wu Xie had cleared the doorway, he saw a cafeteria-style room totally at odds with the rest of the courthouse's décor. At the butter yellow booths and matching round tables that filled the room, he saw people of every age, culture, and size eating and smiling and laughing.

"The best xiaolongbao in the world..."

"It tastes just like my mother's scallion pancake..."

"I have never tasted a peach this ripe, juicy... my god, it's perfect."

Hunger clawed at his insides and Wu Xie picked up his steps across the worn, off-white tiles. On the far wall, he saw surprisingly short line for all the people he had seen outside the doors. They stood in front of several smiling cooks and Wu Xie stepped up into line. He rocked back on his heels as he waited, excitement bubbling inside him. He knew he'd have hotpot. His hand settled on his stomach while a smile broke across his face. he loved hotpot so much so that if someone asked him what he would choose as his last meal...

The line moved ahead until Wu Xie came to a stop in front of the serving window. The hand on his stomach shot to his mouth and he felt vomit race up his throat. There was nothing but hotpot in every table. Pork, beef, vegetable, chicken hotpot with every topping he could imagine, but it was all...

"Don't you see anything you like?" asked one of the cooks. Wu Xie shook his head violently, his hand still covering his mouth while he watched fat maggots plump in the boiling broth and cockroaches scurry along the edges of the pans. One slipped and fell and the flames flared up as they devoured the dying insect. Green, rotten eggs bobbed over mold-covered vegetables and rancid meat swarmed with flies.

"Nothing we have looks good?" a second cook asked and Wu Xie stumbled backwards when a whole rat emerged in the massive pot of broth, half the poor creature's skull exposed.

"What the hell is this place?" Wu Xie tried to yell but it came at as a hoarse whisper.

Both cooks slowly put down their ladles and their eyes assessed him before they melted into the same understanding that the podium man had given him.

"You don't belong here," the first cook said, and it rang in Wu Xie's ears like an accusation.
Then the feeling of nausea had nothing to do with the grotesque cuisine. He turned his head, hoping to find someone, anyone who could help him understand, who could help him find where he belonged. This had to be a dream. A dream, yes, and soon, he would wake up.

"You should leave," the second cook said, and when Wu Xie looked up once again, just like in the hall, everything was back to 'normal'. A gentleman came up behind him and exclaimed that he had never seen such beautiful pecan-crusted salmon in his life and the cooks smiled and nodded. The sounds of the cafeteria returned and Wu Xie turned slowly around. Everything was back to normal... where Wu Xie didn't exist because he didn't belong.

***
To be continued...

Author's Note: So sorry for the short chapter.