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After calling the first five food pantries on the donations list, it’s clear that where food distribution is concerned, the non-profits are a disorganized mess. Though they’ve all confirmed they received bundles of foodstuffs from the church, none of them know what they received, or whether any of it remains on their shelves.
Peter stays home from work again, but this time doesn’t bother calling in sick. It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing does. Not while a cloud of despair follows him like an eclipse blotting out the world’s happiness.
Bleary-eyed and too nauseous to notice he’s starving, Peter drops to the sofa like a rag doll. The news is on. He’s kept it on day and night since he visited Glen’s house. He stares at the lively newscaster as she babbles about the latest political scandal.
His eyes are heavy for the first time in days. The back of his head tingles as he dozes off. A loud blast of intense music startles him. Suddenly he’s awake, looking at another reporter standing on a corner. His flawlessly chiseled face marred by a somber expression.
“A Portland area man is the only survivor in what officials are describing as a domestic terror attack. He, his girlfriend, and their two children appear to have been poisoned.”
Peter turns the volume to its max setting and rubs the sleep from his eyes. The reporter takes a deep breath and announces, “Here’s Aliyah Williams with the details.”
A woman standing in front of a hospital’s emergency doors appears on the screen. “Thank you, Rob. I’m here just outside the E.R. where Vincent White says he’s lucky to be alive. The family was hit hard by the recent economic crisis. Like so many others, they’d resorted to receiving meals from a food pantry near their home to put food on the table.
“Everything seemed normal as they unloaded the groceries at their small, Southeast apartment. That changed after the family prepared their first meal.”
A picture appears on the screen, showing a box of Alphabet Apes and an empty bowl. Peter’s heart hammers inside his ribcage. He accidentally switches channels when his thumb twitches against the remote. Frantically, he changes the station back, not wanting to miss a word of what’s said.
“White states approximately twenty-four hours after eating Alphabet Apes cereal, the entire family became ill. They experienced symptoms of nausea and intense gastrointestinal distress. He says they didn’t initially report the food poisoning because they’d used milk near the end of its shelf life. They assumed it was the milk, and not the cereal, that had caused the ill effects.”
A photo of the family appears. A husky man with ebony skin, a petite white woman and two beautiful children stand with arms linked in front of a grove of trees. Each has a demure, but content smile on their faces.
“It wasn’t until three days later, when the family again ate the cereal, that they realized the Alphabet Apes itself may be the culprit. White says he and his girlfriend Susan Anderson, contacted Alphabet Apes to report the problem.
“Both times they ate the tainted cereal, the family’s symptoms appeared to clear, just as you’d expect from food poisoning.”
Aliyah returns to the screen, now standing directly in front of the glowing hospital sign. “A week after the second meal, symptoms returned. The children showed signs of jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and eyes. White says he knew something was wrong. He took his family to an urgent care clinic on Tibbetts Street. It was there they discovered all four individuals were experiencing liver failure.
“They were brought here, where staff fought to save their lives. Their children, aged six and eight, died within hours of admittance. Their mother soon followed. White was able to survive long enough to enter surgery. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
“We contacted Alphabet Apes regarding the poisoning, and a company representative sent this statement via e-mail.”
The image of the cereal box returns to the screen, overlaid with text.
Alphabet Apes and its subsidiaries send our condolences to the White and Anderson families.
In the face of this tragedy, we are issuing a recall of all Alphabet Apes cereals purchased after June First of last year. We are cooperating with the FDA during their investigation, including a full review of our processing procedures.
We are committed to the safety and security of our customers. Discovering the source of this heartbreaking situation is our highest priority.
Peter mutes the TV as Aliyah and her coworkers memorialize the dead mother and children. He sits in silence for a moment, processing what he’s seen. The shock that froze him in front of the TV melts away, replaced with a boiling rage stronger than anything he’s ever felt before.
An entire family has been destroyed. They believed someone was helping them. Peter flexes his hands, feeling their strength for the first time. After a lifetime of waffling on decisions big and small, he knows just what to do.
He grabs his jacket, picks up his keys, and marches out the door.
It’s time to take care of Glen.