>>5332Paradeox began his new dinner scheme with the best of intentions, and actually kept to them too for the first couple of weeks: he would order a couple of pizzas each week and forced himself to maintain his energy to whip something up of his own creation the other nights. He even went jogging at the weekends, knowing that a sedentary job plus a less-than-optimal diet could have untoward effects on his body.
But then came the week from hell. The word had come down from on high that, due to the CEO’s ineptitude, Paradeox’s department would be pulling double duty for the foreseeable future. Instead of arriving at the office around nine o’clock, he found himself having to show up at seven, leaving no time for breakfast. Lunch had gone from a leisurely half hour or so to scarfing down whatever he could scrounge from the vending machine, then immediately returning to the grind. He wasn’t strolling out of the building at a little after five anymore, he was hurrying to catch the last bus home at eight.
On the Monday he managed to convince himself not to take the easy way out: a sandwich with a little salad on the side was surely a better option than resorting to ordering food in, something which he had always told himself to save for later in the week as a treat.
The Tuesday, however, snailed by in a haze of hunger. He was so tired after that first day of non-stop work that he overslept, meaning he couldn’t even grab something from the fridge on his way to the bus stop. Like the previous day, his only sustenance until he could get home was a single candy bar. He was running on fumes for most of the afternoon, the only thing keeping him from falling asleep at his desk being the knowledge that even a moment’s unproductivity would make the whole situation much, much worse.
He collapsed into his recliner the moment he got home, closing his eyes, feeling ready to sleep forever. But then his stomach growled: it wanted, needed to take precedence.
The moment he drew out his phone an email notification popped up: In The Mood Pizza was offering free upgrades to stuffed crust. The fox tapped the screen largely at random from then on, paying just enough attention to make sure he ordered just the two pizzas, both with a cheesy crust.
The first bite was ecstasy. Normally a Vegorama wouldn’t have been his first choice, but today it tasted like the food of the gods. Though his taste buds wanted to savour every bite, it was his starving belly that ruled him at that point: all eight slices were stuffed hungrily into his mouth one by one, the box empty save a little grease in under ten minutes.
He sat back, feeling oddly…unsatisfied. Normally one pizza was enough to fill him up for the night, though he could often find room for a side or dessert had he ordered either. Tonight, however, he still felt a gaping hole in his stomach: he had eaten so little over the past couple of days and spent so much energy trying to keep his brain on task that he couldn’t help but need more fuel.
The second, still full pizza box lay on the coffee table; it was supposed to be Wednesday’s dinner, but it looked oh so tempting from where the fox was sitting. He stared at it for a few minutes, his brain and belly battling with one another over what to do with that hearty meal whose smell was wafting tantalising over to his twitching nose.
The longer he sat there, the feebler his mind’s reasons for saving it seemed to become. He was hungry, he had been working harder than he had ever done in his life, and, after all, there was no real harm in doubling down just this once.
With a small shrug, he leaned forward and scooped Pandora’s pizza box onto his lap.