When lunchtime strikes in DCU, many students head to the shops with one mission- to get a chicken fillet roll. They anxiously wait in queue, knowing that every step forward is one closer to the roll they had been dreaming about in the previous lecture. They study the chicken on the counter like it’s coming up in their Christmas exams.
Panic and desperation begin to set in as students watch fellow classmates happily depart with their rolls filled to the brim with piping hot chicken. If a chicken fillet roll consists of approximately one and a half fillets and there are eleven people in front of them in the queue, is it possible there won’t be any left by the time they reach the top of the queue?
They come up with a plan B just in case today is the day they will be left chicken fillet-less and proceed to give themselves a pep talk, as if preparing for a presentation worth 70 per cent of a module. If it’s not meant to be, they remind themselves, all will be ok – they will simply order a ham roll and ask for a bit of another student’s chicken roll.
For a second or two they are content with this idea, knowing they will get their chicken roll fix one way or another. But then, like any premature break-up, they realise they want more. “One bite just won’t be enough”, they cry.
With just two people to go before they get to the top, they smile from ear to ear as maybe today is their lucky day after all. Suddenly, an arm reaches in and takes the chicken fillets off the counter. “What are they doing with the chicken?”, the voice inside them screams.
They get ready to grin and bear it and order a ham roll when they see a staff member taking fresh chicken fillets out of the oven. It was meant to be after all.
Lauren Kelly
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