Ray loves food, especially fast food. Not Mickey D’s or Wendy’s or any of those restaurants, but real fast food that comes from a truck. He tells this joke to everyone, sometimes more than once in the same conversation.

Ray is one of god’s children, another of his sayings learned from gramma Orb. When Ray was little his mother attempted to smother him with a pillow. His grandma saved him, but not before his four-year-old brain was irrevocably damaged. His mother had lots of troubles; drugs, drink and him. This is another of gramma’s favorite sayings.

Deep down he feels responsible for his mother’s challenges, and her ultimate suicide in prison, but he lacks the mental acuity to understand or express this feeling. Ray is thirty-six years old, but will forever be that four year old that his mother tried to kill.

Aubrey, his grandmother, or gramma Orb to Ray, took him in after his mother went away. Since she never came back, gramma Orb adopted him and showered him with love and affection. She tried to make up for the neglect she subjected her own daughter to. Parenting is not always easy, and it requires you to learn on the job, and do-overs are not possible, except when you get to raise a grandchild.

Everyone in town knew Ray. Mister Offerman, who operates the taco truck is Ray’s favorite. The ‘three amigos’ taco truck is one of many food trucks available daily at the food truck court next to the town’s only strip mall.

Colin Offerman knew Ray’s mother when they were both young and wild. She was pretty and promiscuous, and Colin knew her many times. He joined the army and only learned of her fate when he returned years later. Summer, Ray’s mother, was already dead and buried then. He feels sorry for how things turned out for her and her family, but he happens to like Ray.

Colin is a short and stocky redhead, and Ray is tall and muscular with thick black curly hair, making him certain that they are not related. After high school Summer used to sell her ass at the truck stop at the edge of town, so there is no telling who Ray’s father might be.

***

The only thing Ray loves more than fast food is trying new fast food. A new food truck was parked in the food court, and Ray rushed over to it, tacos completely forgotten. This new truck is a beauty; bright red with detailed drawings of burgers, hotdogs and fries being eaten by Looney-Tunes characters painted on its sides. It also has lots of shiny chrome accents, including a set of aluminum wheels polished to a shine. It was a rolling work of art, and Ray loves art, especially the kind he can understand.

‘You must be Ray?’, the proprietor asks when Ray ducks his head under the canopy that runs the length of the counter, ‘My name is David’. Ray smiles broadly, displaying his healthy but crooked teeth. Gramma Orb insists that he brushes twice a day and floss before bed. ‘It is cheaper in the long run to take care of your teeth’, she always says. ‘Ray I am, sunshine I’m not!’, Ray greets the man with one of his happier salutations.

Colin prepared David for this encounter and promised to pay for Ray’s order. ‘What can I get you Ray?’ the man smiles, displaying his few remaining teeth. ‘Burger and fries and coke and chips anna cookie!” Ray says with one breath, digging in his jeans pockets for money. He produces a handful of coins and slaps it onto the counter, ‘Keep the change good sir!’. David swipes the coins into his hand and deposits it in a tin can under the counter, ‘Coming right up!’.

Ray would consider himself a ‘burger and fries and coke and chips anna cookie’ connoisseur if he knew what the word meant. Suffice it to say he knows what he likes, and this burger is the best he has ever had. Normally he would take a bite of the burger, then follow that with two fries laid out on a single potato chip, then wash it down with a sip of coke. The cookie is always eaten on the way home. He wolfed this burger down without even looking at the rest of the meal, it was that good! Ray burps with relish and gives David a huge smile and two thumbs up, then digs into his fries and chips.

After the meal Ray walks over to the truck to thank David for the food, as was his custom, and David surprised him with a paper bag, containing two more burgers and a large container of fries. ‘Share this with your gramma son,’ David said, grinning at the surprise on Rays face. ‘I don’t have more money to pay David’, Ray objects. David shakes his head and replies, ‘No need to pay Ray, but if you want more burgers before you have money again, come by tonight and help me by clearing tables. The taco man tells me it gets busy at night.’ Ray laughs out loud, ‘Pay Ray, Ray pay! Good one David. I’ll ask gramma Orb and come help if she says good.’ With that Ray takes the bag, digs the cookie out of his back pocket and starts on his way home, enjoying the heft of the paper bag filled with two of those fantastic burgers!

***

Over the next two weeks Ray works with David. On weekdays he helps with lunch, and Friday and Saturday early evening with dinner. David’s food is a huge hit with people queueing up to get their order taken. Ray clears the picnic tables and empties the trash cans, and at the end of day he is rewarded with a bag of burgers for him and gramma Orb. and a handful of dollar bills. ‘Tips! David calls them tips!’, Ray laughs when he thinks about that, it is so funny that David does not know these are dollar bills.

At the end of the second Saturday David sat down with Ray while he enjoyed his two burgers. No more fries and chips needed thank you! ‘It is time for me to move on Ray’, David rolls his can of coke between his hands as he watches Ray devour the food. ‘I normally stay only a week or so in one place, and I have been here more than two weeks.’ Ray stops chewing when he realizes that the burgers will leave with David. He swallows and asks, ‘But when you leave the burgers leave with you David!’. David laughs and adds, ‘Do you want to come with me Ray? You are welcome to come along. I have lots of room in the truck, and as you saw I can use the help. And you get all the burgers you want.’

Ray had to think about this, but he did not. His 4-year-old brain produced the answer immediately, ‘Yeah! I’ll go for sure! And Ray pay is burgers all the way!’. David extends a hand, and they shook on it, ‘That is settled then. Finish up while I disconnect everything and stow all my equipment. Then we hit the road!’

***

An hour later they were on the road. Ray was already nodding off, fighting the sleep induced by the tranquilizer David put in his drink. It won’t be long now before sleep will take him. Ray’s chin finally loses the fight with gravity and sleep, and rests on his chest. He softly snores into his last nap ever. David turns the radio on and selects a classic rock station. ‘How fitting!’, David says out loud when he hears ‘The Doors’ performing ‘Riders of the storm’. It’s a two-hour drive to the farm of one of his associates. There they will render Ray into usable parts.

Most of Ray’s organs will be sold on the black market. His brain is damaged, but the rest of his body is in great shape thanks to gramma Orb and her obsession to get it right this time. The truck’s freezer is nearly empty, and it is time to restock his supply of burger patties. Ray will produce plenty of those. David’s last assistant was female, and smaller than Ray, and she lasted almost two weeks.

David keeps only the liver for himself to be enjoyed with a good red wine, sautéed vegetables and lots of garlic bread. If people knew of his lucrative enterprise, they would call him a disgusting cannibal, a monster even, but once they have a taste of one of his excellent burgers they always come back for more. Sometimes even on the same day.

You are what you eat after all!