guarding the heart

Chapter 4: Rebuild

Finn and Graham settled down at the table beside each other, taking notes and listening to the Corporal's lesson.

"I fucking love these box lunches!" Marquez laughed as he, Finn, Graham, and Omeasoo sat down together at the picnic table outside their classroom to dive into their meals. It was often the case at Camp Grayling that for lunch they would be given a box of food about the size of a large binder that was stuffed with sandwiches, juice, cookies, chocolate bars, fruit, cheese, potato chips, and just about anything else a typical young adult (or teenage) male would love to eat.

Finn settled down with his food and, after a sip of his juice, tore off the wrapper for the first ham and cheese sandwich. He bit into it and just about swallowed before chewing when he noticed something not quite right with the taste. Quickly, he opened his mouth and pulled out the bite of sandwich, still sticky with what saliva had already moistened the bread.

"Dude, really?" Graham complained, quickly looking away from the bit Finn had spit out. "That's just gross. Eat the damn thing once it's in your mouth...don't show us!"

The quarterback scowled at him. "Piss off, man. Something's not right with this." Finn set aside the bitten portion and looked at the rest of the sandwich. The bread seemed okay, maybe just a touch stale but nothing inedible. He grabbed the two pieces of bread and pulled them apart to see what the ingredients looked like.

The lettuce was a bit limp, but again, this being the army, it didn't surprise him (and he wasn't fussy like Rachel in insisting his vegetables be of the 'very best quality'. They were vegetables...deal with it). The ham seemed okay, and he sniffed it quickly to see if there was anything wrong, but it smelled like ham. Next, he moved the lettuce to look at the cheese.

"Holy fuck!" Marquez said as he stared hard at the piece of cheese stuck in the sandwich. It was slightly green with mould in the centre and hardened around the edges. Had Finn not had a cast iron stomach when it came to food and gross things, he was sure he would have been as repulsed with the sandwich as his Hispanic friend. Finn watched as Omeasoo, Marquez, and Graham all started ripping their sandwiches apart to see if the same fate had befallen them. Luckily for them, it hadn't as the cheese in their sandwiches seemed fine. Finn wondered what he'd done to be lucky enough to earn such a gross meal.

"Better luck next time, Hudson," Graham said, putting his sandwich back together and taking another big bite, smiling at the taller boy out of sheer spite and mockery.

Omeasoo pointed to the other sandwich in Finn's lunchbox. "That's why you get two," He said simply, eating his own lunch quickly as if afraid Finn might try to steal it or something.

Finn picked up the other one before he threw it back in the box in disgust. "It's egg salad. I can't stand egg salad. Anyone get something different as their second sandwich?" After he received three shakes of the head to indicate they all had an egg salad sandwich as well, Finn shrugged and grabbed the chocolate bar out of the box. "Guess I'll stick with food they can't fuck up too much, then."

"You know," Graham began, picking up a small piece of paper out of the box. "We do have these comment cards we can fill out and send back to the mess where these were made. Maybe you should mention they need to check their cheese a bit more carefully next time."

"Better idea, man!" Marquez said excitedly around a mouthful of food. "Send the cheese back to them! Wouldn't that be fucking hilarious?"

Finn smiled and grabbed the card and envelope out of his box lunch then pulled the pen out from his uniform pocket and began to scribble down some words.

Name: Finn Hudson

Rank: Recruit

How would you rate your lunch? Would YOU eat this shit?