Sin Full

​
I had not felt well for several days.
​
Sick of feeling miserable I got it into
my head that the cure was Cheetos,
but I had none.  I learned long ago the dangers of keeping snack foods in the house, and so I never do. 

But as I said, I got it into my head that the cure for my malaise was Cheetos, extra crunchy.   So, in the middle of a thunderstorm, I got into my car and headed for the nearest convenience store.  Of course, there were no snack-size bags available.  It would be the share-size or nothing.  The first warning bell rang.

Despite the sounding alarm, I did not run for the door.  I stood there studying the image of the skateboarding cheetah in sunglasses.  He looked happy with a giant Cheeto in his hand.  His white high-top sneakers looked lovely too, and I couldn’t help but notice that he was quite slender, undernourished even, for a carnivore.  Maybe Cheetos are a health food.  I was easy prey, and I grabbed a bag.

I approached the check-out feeling like a teenager about to get an overhead price check on tampons or condoms, but there was no cashier behind the counter.  The second warning bell chimed.  For an instant, I pondered the possibility that God was giving me another chance to make a better decision.

I set the bag of Cheetos on the counter as I waited for the cashier.  Though it was inadvertent, I had remarkable precision in aiming the price code at the resting scanner.  The cash register began ringing up the Cheetos over and over again.  Strike three and red alert!  God was going rounds with the devil.

The cashier came running to the register from some unseen location behind me.  It was too late now.  The devil had gained the advantage.  Now, I had to buy the Cheetos.  As the young lady deleted the repeated charges and started to tally my actual purchase, I felt compelled to explain that I don’t usually eat such foods.  “Mm-hmm.”   I could see that she didn’t care one bit about my dietary habits or if I was telling the truth.  She worked in a convenience store, for God’s sake, the devil’s outpost.  She wasn’t there to hear confession.

I grabbed my purchase from the counter and dodged hail on my way back to the car.  Alone inside my vehicle I tore open the package.  Lightening flashed as I glanced at the calories per serving printed on the bag.  Why did I do that?  Now I knew the cost of sin.  I set about negotiating.  I vowed I would eat just one serving.  And then I vowed that if I ate more than one serving, I would balance out the calories throughout the rest of the day.  And then I vowed just to make it home.

I showed amazing restraint in the car. I ate just one Cheeto.  I have to admit that it was pretty darn good.  And then I made it all the way into the house.  With each Cheeto I consumed, I renegotiated the serving size.  Pretty soon, I did feel better.

How many Cheetos did it take to cure my ills?  I’m not saying, but it was enough to leave a big orange stain on my soul.

---