d8 posted:

... it was a sign proclaimng "Winky-Dink Burgers, 19 cents". I jumped over the guardrail and ran to the feast. It looked like the place had just opened for business the second before I got there. Please, Mr Hamburger Guy, please give me a Winky-Dink burger, for I am hungry, so very very hungry. I gave up my dime and my nickle, I gave up my four pennies and received my thin beef communion wafer between whitebread buns, garnished with the ketchup and mustard of the heavens. Eat thou of the pickle, for it is my body...

They say if you chew slowly and thoughtfully, you can taste the soul. I chewed slowly and thoughtfully and tasted... not the soul... I chewed even more slowly. I tasted...despair. Yes, despair with undertones of disappointment. I tasted failure and cardboard, sawdust and mockery. I tasted poo poo. I took a second bite out of sheer desperation and chewed some more. I couldn't bring myself to swallow. I spit out that second mouthful of blasphemy and tossed what was left of my Winky-Dink burger aside. I imagine that where it fell is a barren place to this very day, a small spot where not even the meanest weed or thistle could take root.