chapter 5

I doubted we were going to be having dinner. Piki walked me to the door. "What did she call me? What's a Haiti?"

"No, not a Haiti, a hathi...it means, uh, elephant." My face felt really hot.

"You didn't think it'd be important to tell me you were ***ing getting married?" I asked angrily. She called me an elephant! His parents told me it was up to me to get rid of her, which was completely unfair. What could I do?

I honestly didn't have the slightest clue what I could do to get rid of her, but I was going to try my hardest. It would be worth it. I was willing to do anything for Pi.

"I'm sorry...I...I just hoped she'd go away," he said. "I already told her I was gay. I already told her I had a boyfriend. She said she can look pass all those things and still marry me." He and I stood in the doorway of his house. We had three months until they'd be getting married or the two of us would be going to college.

"I'll...I'll think of something. I promise." He gave me a gentle smile and I turned to leave and go grab something to eat. I mean, I had told my mom not to make me anything and then my most recent dinner plans crashed and burned.

I pulled my truck into the parking lot of a burger place and went inside. I ordered a couple of chicken sandwiches, a large fry, and a large soda. I was starving. I hadn't really eaten that much at lunch because I was nervous about dinner with Piki's parents.

I sat and ate and ate and when I was done I felt my stomach push against my dress shirt tightly. I hadn't worn a dress shirt since yearbook photos were taken in August. It was the beginning of June. I had to think about getting rid of Pingala.

What was I good at? Definitely wasn't good at math. I was really good at football, but that wasn't very fair...I was good at eating! That was just dumb, but fair enough where it wasn't a cheap way of getting her to leave. I'd challenge her to an eating contest. I laughed at the thought. It was one of my best ideas ever.

I walked out to my truck and got in. My bloated stomach caught my attention. It was usually semi-flat, but today it stuck out incredibly far. I started rubbing it and it felt...good. I always felt really amazing after a huge meal. I was getting bigger though. Excessive eating would always catch up to a person and it had caught up to me. I stopped massaging my gut and snapped back into reality.

I pulled out of the lot and back towards Piki's house. I rang the doorbell and he answered. "Conner, what's wrong?" he asked, eyes travelling to my stuffed gut. I sucked it in.

"I figured out how to get rid of Pingala." He grinned. "Where is she?" I asked. He led me to a bedroom in their humongous house. He asked what it was I was talking about all throughout our trip to her bedroom. "It's a surprise."

He knocked on her door. "Pingala, may I come in?" he asked.

"Yes! Yes of course Piki!" I heard her run towards the door and saw her face turn angry when she saw me standing next to him. "What is the hathi doing here? Is he here to graze upon the furniture?"

"No, I'm here to challenge you to a contest. Loser leaves Piki alone forever."

"What type of contest?" she asked, a smile creeping across her face. What a determined woman.

"An eating contest." She looked very serious. Piki took a sharp intake of breath.

"Agreed, on one condition: I choose the food we eat." She smiled. "Curry...vegetable curry." I agreed and she closed the door.

"Piki, shouldn't you be excited? You've seen me eat, it's a shoo-in." He shook his head and sat on the ground across from Pingala's door.

"Pingala...she...she tricked you," he said. "She doesn't look it, but I heard she is a curry eating champion among the people in her neighborhood. I heard she can eat seventeen entire plates of curry in one sitting."

"I'll just have to eat more than she does," I said, trying to be optimistic. "I can train for it," I joked, trying to bring him out of an ever increasing depression.

"You can!" he exclaimed. "You're a genius. I'll make sure you don't lose to Pingala."