I needed to attend a deposition in Washington D.C. today. I brought one of my daughters (she’s 6) on the trip. She patiently drew pictures and read books during the deposition, which lasted two hours this morning. Now that I’m done with work, we’re having fun doing tourist things.
First, we visited the National Air and Space Museum (on the Mall). We walked by the White House. At the Lincoln Memorial, we gazed at the majestic statue of Lincoln and then we stood at the spot where Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream speech. We touched the Vietnam War Memorial. We really enjoyed the National Zoo, where we saw several giant pandas up close. Such beautiful animals!
Perhaps the most curious thing that happened occurred on a street near the zoo, however. We spotted a man carrying a tray of Hostess products (Twinkies, Cupcakes, Suzy-Q’s) out of a 7-11 store toward his Hostess truck. After we said hello to each other, he mentioned that he was removing these old Hostess products from the stores. He explained that after the Twinkies, etc. reach their expiration date, he takes them away.
“Where do you take them,” I asked.
“They are used as pig food,” he said.
“Really?” I asked.
“Really,” he responded. “They feed old Hostess products to pigs.
“Really?” I again asked? “For real?” I wondered whether he was kidding us, but the man appeared to be speaking in earnest. It wasn’t like he was just anyone making this claim. He was wearing an official Hostess uniform and driving an official Hostess truck.
“Absolute truth,” he said. The pig farmers come pick them up and take these to feed them to their pigs. On several occasions I personally provided them to pig farmers”
He waved goodbye as my daughter and I walked into the 7-11 Store.
It hadn’t been my intention before talking to the Hostess man, but . . . what the heck . . . my daughter and I emerged from the 7-11 to share one small pack of pig food. I know it wasn’t healthy, but somehow it seemed like an opportunity to eat something exotic.
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