Dirty Fries

French fried potatoes perched perkily in their familiar red box
The little golden arches front and center showing their allegiance to the House of Croc
My fingers invaded their hard paper pocketed space over and over again
Plucking them from the pack one by golden greasy salty one

But I was leaving something behind as well
And with every select-remove-insert-chew-repeat cycle
It was getting more obvious
That the upper portion of the fries were taking on a decidedly sooty tinge

It reminded me of an instructor's words of advice back in aviation maintenance school

"You need to take care with all the things that you will come into contact with
All the oils, cleaners, greases, paints"

"Use gloves
Use respirators
Wash your hands before you eat
Wash your hands before you go home
Not just for your own sake
But for your family's sake"

"And wash before you take a piss
Not only could you cause an uncomfortable burning sensation on yourself
But you get stuff on you
Then go home and make love to your wife or girlfriend
And then you've gotten whatever you had on your hands
Which went to your cock
Which is now inside of her"

"Nice job
Now you gave her cancer
Or birth defects to your unborn kid"

We'd all had an uncomfortable chuckle then silence at all that
Since we were all just overgrown kids then

And here I was years later
Eating my french fries with my exhaust sooty hands
Not only eating it along with my food
But putting it out in front of me on the uneaten portion
As constant reminder that the soap in the bathroom wouldn't get it all off
That I never use gloves
That this is one dirty job

I grabbed a couple more fries
Leaving a little more soot behind
As the grease on the fries scrubbed my fingers better than any official hand cleaner ever could
Dipping them into the no name brand ketchup from the company fridge

Damn but they sure are tasty
Maybe the jet engine exhaust makes them better
Maybe I'll get super powers of aircraft maintenance from eating all this!

Or maybe just cancer