That smell. The smell of grilled ribs. It makes my stomach turn sideways and over and out and jump through hoops.
Why? Well, it's a long story. I will tell you anyway because it is a blog, and blogs are meant to tell stories.
Three weeks ago, I volunteered to do stage crew for a play. We did Hairpsray, and despite the fact it fucked (pardon my French) up my sleeping pattern, I must admit I had fun and I will probably crew again.
As I've said before my school is a music school. We go all out for our performances because well, that's what we're known for. We had these great big sets that we moved, we had special lighting, a sound system, and basically the only thing us from being a Broadway production was being on Broadway itself.
Anyway...if you've seen the movie, you know that in the number "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful", there is a table of fattening, delicious, Southern comfort food in Motormouth Maybelle's record shop. My friend and I were in charge of that table, and the two of us assumed we were going to use fake food because our show was running for four days.
Then, on the first dress rehearsal, my theater teacher came in with real uncooked beans and pasta. The next dress rehearsal, she came in with rolls and ribs, both real, the ribs from Famous Dave's. We were concerned it was going to rot, but she said she sprayed both with acrylic (The same stuff you put on flowers to keep them for a long time).
It wasn't as bad at first, but as days went on, the smell only got worse. I don't even know how to describe the smell of rotting ribs and rolls coated in acrylic. The smell itself is so horrendous I believe a word stronger than horrendous should be made in the honor of this smell.
What made it worse was the fact that almost every night, I had to plate it. The skin was falling off and the gristles and bones stuck under my fingernails. Nobody wanted to go near the table. Anyone who came in backstage waiting for their cue immediately gagged at the stench of the ribs. And of course, I was given the honor to run the dreaded meat back to the fridge after the number.
Despite the fact we got new ribs on the third show, that did not make it any better. The stench of ribs was enough to make everyone's stomach backstage curdle and want to barf every organ in their body.
Even though weeks have passed, I still cannot get over that smell. That ribs-y smell that threatens me to purge everything I ate previously. Unfortunately, just a few minutes ago, I made the mistake of eating the beef brisket my dad made, which smells exactly like those damn ribs.
Now I'm sitting here, writing this post, chugging lemon tea, and hoping it will rid the smell that is now stuck in my nose.
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