day 3

drive out to the meatpacking facility co-founded by the j of t&j’s. stop at a starbucks in a target for some coffee on the way. cross multiple abandoned railroads still marked off with road signs. walk into t&j’s, past the grocery store section and behind the retail butcher’s counter. one man runs some hind legs through a meat saw. “this is making me hungry,” quips another as he passes by, cradling a skinned goat. its red streaked face pterodactyl-like in its sharp earlessness. rooms full of eviscerated pigs hanging from hooks in orderly loops. like collared shirts at a dry cleaner’s. trash can full of pig heads. another full of intestines, stomachs, and lungs. pig lungs are prohibited from being processed in the US. a table of ribcages. a shelf of hearts. a pen of pigs sleeping and grunting and squeezing around each other. a metal funnel for catching the blood spurting from the throat. nondescript mosses of tissue speckled across a wet floor. a single flame alight for singeing stubborn furs. a few pigs hanging with their intestines blooming from their stomachs. like a bouquet of pink and gray balloon-flowers. a bucket of chlorine. a metal door as tall as the room. a sticker outside the back office that reads “i love animals, they’re delicious!” with a picture of the virgin mary and baby jesus pinned on top. chinese yellow pages. a calendar put out by global electronic services inc. july features a balding man in a green polo changing the o-rings of a hydraulic unit.

stop by jimmy johns for a late lunch. unable to refrain from getting the turkey bacon sub. drive back through the edenic farm grounds to the castle-like house and wolf down the sandwich. spend the afternoon uprooting clovers grass and dandelions from stone crevices, evicting ants and worms. stuff my face with watermelon. wink at the baby. walk up to the hobbit hill. swat at mosquitos. sing for the trees. croon at the cows. they walk with me from the fence to the house. heat up leftover lasagna. eat it alone in the kitchen. silently thank m for making it vegetarian.