Twinkie The Kid Starts A Comeback
When you leave the academy, they say that you’re ready. That is mostly true. And then you find one of your childhood icons passed out in an alley and you realize there’s no such thing as ready.
I was working the west side, overnight shift. Something caught my eye. Were those legs and cowboy boots sticking out from behind that dumpster? The city pays me to find out. I radioed my position and went to look things over.
A Flash Of Gold, When All Around Is Dark
He was filthy, but I knew it was him. The dirt couldn’t hide his gold color. A cowboy hat and bandanna alongside confirmed – this was Twinkie The Kid, long time mascot for Twinkies cakes.
When I nudged him with my night stick he seemed fresh. He’d been through a lot, but was still spongy and yielding. It seemed crazy, but I thought he was even still moist. Twinkie The Kid was well-preserved.
He stirred when I nudged him again. Twinkie peered up into my flashlight beam and said “I swear, I’ll have your money tomorrow. Don’t beat me up again, please. Please.” I moved the light so he could see I wasn’t there to rob him. He slumped against the wall. It was hard to tell if that was relief or he thought I’d cause him bigger problems.
I knelt beside him. “Why, Twinkie, why?”, I asked. He shook his head. “The company folded; they threw us all out on the street. Some of us were ready. Captain Cupcake and Fruit Pie The Magician had a little cabaret act and headed to Vegas. I never saw it coming. I was gonna be on top forever. That’s what I thought.”
Twinkie The Kid’s tale of fast living back when he was on top fascinated me. Ho-Ho‘s and Sno-Balls were his for the taking. He had a long run, but started a Bieber-esque death spiral a few years back. Before his fame could meet its natural end, the company folded.
He found himself alone and penniless. The street took its toll. Twinkie became a snack cake living on society’s edge, drunk on cheap whiskey, lying in the beam of a rookie cop’s flashlight. You don’t un-see something like that. I couldn’t just leave him there.
I Wasn’t Ready, So I Go All TV Cop On Him
“Let me help you. We can get you clean. You can work again.”
“No one is going to hire a 41-year-old sponge cake. The only way I’ve ever made money is by looking like a snack that doesn’t exist any more. Get away from me, son.” Twinkie rolled over and reached for a bottle. I kicked it over and grabbed him.
I’d say I grabbed him by the shoulders, but he doesn’t actually have those. I grabbed and shook him. I screamed “snap out of it, you’re not dead yet! You’re so torn up on that crap you don’t even know they’ve started making Twinkies again!” Twinkie The Kid looked up at me, a tear washed a path of clean down what I suppose serves as his cheek. He stammered “they….they’re making Twinkies?”
My impromptu intervention was working. I kept it up. “Yes, making and selling! I’m not seeing ads, they need ads. They need you! They’re already selling Twinkies in Wal-Mart!”
Twinkie staggered to his feet, looked me in the eye and bellowed “Wal-Mart? I’m not a whore”. He took a clumsy swing at me. I ducked it and knocked him back on his cream holes. “You’re right, alcoholic vagrant is a more dignified occupation” I told him. “What’s it gonna be? Dry out and get back on top or freeze to death in this alley this winter? By the time you leave rehab Twinkies won’t just be a Wal-Mart thing.”
Twinkie The Kid paused, got up, then brushed himself off. “Do we have to call it drying out? I don’t really dry out, per se.” He smiled and I hugged him. He was still moist.
Welcome back, Kid.
Don’t forget to subscribe for more uncomfortableness from the writers of Long Awkward Pause. Years and years of Omawarisan’s gibberish are available on his site, Blurt. If you follow @blurtblog, you can find out what he had for lunch.
Related L.A.P. Posts:
Justin Gawel on Twinkies BrainRants on Twinkies Monk Monkey on Twinkies Christopher De Voss on Twinkies Mike Calahan on Twinkies Chowderhead on Twinkies
Having been on the receiving end of the Death by Chocolate headache yesterday, I pondered the demise of the Twinkie. Fun topic for the week. I’m looking forward to reading entries each day.
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Me too! We don’t read these ahead of time!
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FB, it sounds like my attempt to goof about Ho-Ho’s was overdone. My apologies.
Thanks for a fun topic!
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Best. Line. Ever. “I knocked him back on his cream holes.” Brilliant!
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Thank you. I was worried it was obscure.
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Dirty. Deliciously dirty.
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I agree: ‘alcoholic vagrant’ is much, much better than ‘Wal-Mart whore.’
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And no vest!
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Reblogged this on Blurt and commented:
I’m over at the new group blog, Long Awkward Pause, today. For those who know me, Long Awkward Pause is the name of the blog, not a reference to my manner of speaking. Click thru to head over and read my take on our assigned topic of Twinkies…and keep coming back for 6 more posts of spongy, creamy goodness.
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That sounds dirty.
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Spongy, creamy goodness. Yeah, in retrospect, it kind of makes me toss out the sponge in my kitchen sink.
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You don’t really write fiction, per se. 🙂
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You know when kids to learn ride a bike and they realize no one is holding on to the seat? That is me and fiction right now.
Where the hell is my helmet?
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Glad to hear Twinkie the Kid is on the way back. I’m glad he didn’t end up like Devil Dogs and Funny Bones.
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Aaaaugh devil dogs. The filling was so good but the cake was so so dry.
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What a beautiful tale about overcoming adversity. I’m celebrating with a Twinkie before 9 a.m. And I’m not even in Wal-Mart.
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It’s 9am somewhere!
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My grocery store is already out of Twinkies. Jerks…. I have 2 left, which I’m hiding from Boo and Radley.
Now I want a fruit pie. I blame you.
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Cherry or apple are the primo fruit pies.
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As interventions go, this one was sweet.
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It was time to unwrap a new intervention technique.
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BWAHAHAHA. .. brilliant!!! Still won’t get me to eat a Twinkie though!
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How about a fruit pie? They have fruit in them, and that gel that connects all the fruit.
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What exactly, is that “gel” made of??
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ummmm…soap?
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Surely you’re not implying that fruit pies, laden with all sorts of the bad kinds of fats and high fructose corn syrup, don’t taste good??
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Oh no, I was just trying to match that consistency and I didn’t know how to spell carrageenan.
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I think if we can’t spell the ingredients, we shouldn’t be ingesting them, would you agree?? lol
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If you have any further sway with Twinkie the Kid, can you convince him to wear some pants? Everyone can see those cream holes. Think of the children!
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I’ll bring it up. Maybe if we start small, like “always back in and out of a room”.
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I cant believe Twinkie the Kid is younger than me! 41, Really? Are you sure that’s right, or is that just what he’s telling people?
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41 and fresh as the day he was baked.
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They have a half-life of 5.2 million years. Fact.
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I had the same thought. That means he came out when I was 11 and I could swear he was around in my single digit years.
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I agree with calahan, I don’t like the idea of Twinkie walking around with his cream holes hanging out. Put some pressure on him, squeeze his head, if he starts to cut one from a cream hole, you can nail him for indecent exposure. He will probably plea bargain in court to avoid jail time and, most likely agree to wear pants so that he can resurrect his career.
This is a real mercy mission for you. What a finish!!
PS: be sure he has pants on when he goes before the magistrate…….I’m just saying…
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I found Pik-Nik shoestring potato sticks, my favorite snack from the 60’s, on clearance at World Market. After the 75% discount it came to 85 cents for an 8 ounce can. I stocked up!
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You can’t keep a good snack down….
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