After a few days, Joel got bored.

He got tired of waiting.

He decided he’d do some recycling.

He got out his knife and pulled his thick coat up, exposing his belly.

Joel was numb from the cold, like he was sealed in an icepack someone else was holding against someone else’s broken neck to paralyze swelling.

Joel pinched a roll of belly between his fingers and cut it off.

He spit the first bite out and made a weird face.

Joel went into his pocket and pulled out the flower, its blue petals flat and crumpled from being pressed in his pants.

He tried again and ate the rest of the roll.

He cut off another chunk, and another, and he ate and ate.

Almost his whole belly was gone, just before the hole Joel cut got inside Joel to his intestines.

Just before Joel got too full to eat anymore a helicopter flew overhead.

Joel looked up, and he dropped the flower in the snow.