When Hunger Takes Over

Brutis strolled down the beach, enjoying the bright and warm sun shining on the perfect beach day. The great white shark, sporting a red vest with torn sleeves that exposed his large belly and brown swim trunks, was also carrying an inflatable mattress and a foldable chair. He found “his spot”—the same place that he set up his base camp every time he went to this beach: perfectly positioned for optimal wind flow, sun angle, and access to the water. He set down his mattress and unfolded his beach chair, and sat down to relax. He leaned back, put on his sunglasses, and put his hands behind his head. “This is the life…” Brutis said with a contented sigh. He closed his eyes took in all the great beach sensations—the salty smell of the ocean, the crashing sound of the waves, the rush of the breeze…

Suddenly he heard a familiar loud growling noise. He looked down at his exposed belly as it growled hungrily, and he rubbed it. “Really, I just sat down and you’re hungry again?” His belly tersely replied with a short groan, and Brutis scowled at it. “Well I’m not getting up so you’ll just have to wait.” He put his hands behind his head again and leaned back, but was jolted again by an even more extreme roar from his rotund tummy, and he wrapped his arms around it.

“No, I won’t let you bully me into leaving the beach when I just got here!” Brutis decided to do something to take his mind off his hunger. He stood up, slipped off his vest, grabbed the inflatable mattress and walked towards the water. He waded out a ways before he lumbered onto the floating rectangle, laying on his back. He gave a relaxed sigh as he felt the waves rocking him and the sun warming his exposed torso and face. He closed his eyes again, and got a brief bit of rest before he heard his midsection again.

MMRRRUMBLE!

Brutis did his best to ignore it. He shut his eyes even harder, forcing himself to think of anything other than food. But try as he might, his brain kept working its way back to different food items: chocolate cake, donuts, steaks, burgers, shakes…

GRRROOOWLLLL!!!

Brutis groaned as he placed both his hands on his belly, as if it would silence the noises emanating from it. As his round middle continued to growl and grumble, he could feel it rippling and moving underneath his hands. He rubbed his hands in concentric circles on his tummy in hopes of soothing it into quietness, but his gut resisted. Within minutes, his belly had progressed from a periodic growl to making a near constant roaring sound, as if it we conveying anger and contempt at Brutis for not giving in to its demands. He sat up on the floating cushion and looked down at his belly in exasperation. “I don’t know what you want me to do, there’s no food out here in the ocean.” RRRUMMMBLLEEE!! said his belly as it wobbled violently, shaking the raft a bit. “And there won’t be anything on the beach either, the burger place is a mile awa—“

Suddenly, the shark was cut off mid-though by a wonderful aroma that wafted past his nose. It was the unmistakable smell of a beef patty freshly sizzling on a hot barbeque. His mouth watered profusely, and his belly grew even louder in protest of its emptiness. His head instinctively turned towards the beach, tracing the smell. As he did, he pinpointed the source of the delicious smell: a family of three on the shore, the father placing the patties on the barbeque while the mom and son looked on, playing in the sand. Even though they were a bit of a ways away, Brutis could almost hear the patties sizzling as they hit the hot metal, and the image fired up his belly again, wobbling and shaking so much that he nearly fell off the floater.

Not that that would have mattered, because at that moment Brutis’ instincts took over. Without even thinking, he rolled off the floating mattress and into the water, and immediately began to swim toward shore. As he reached the shallow water, he stopped swimming and stood on his feet and began wading forwards, his eyes hazy and locked on the meaty treasure before him. He barely noticed as his belly also emerged from the water—free of the water, its noisy complaints became audible once more, the wobbles of his belly causing ripples in the water.

Meanwhile, on the shore, the cooking dad was placing the freshly cooked patties in a stack on a platter when he began to hear the strange growling noises. He turned around, and cried out in fear as he saw the impressive sight of the large great white lumbering towards him. The mother and son also noticed Brutis heading towards them as he fully exited the water, mouth dripping drool and his hands stretched out in front of him. It didn’t help they were also mistaking the non-stop growling from his belly as coming from his mouth instead. Without much hesitation, the family let out a terrified scream, grabbed a few of their valuables they could carry, and ran off towards their car.

By the time the family had started the car and driven off, the hungry shark had reached the picnic site. He stopped in front of the pile of burgers, which sat beside a separate platter of buns, pickles, and other condiments. Brutis paused only for a moment, after which his belly reminded him quite forcefully and loudly of the purpose of their trek. Brutis obediently attacked the smorgasbord, shoveling the food indiscriminately into his mouth, patty after bun after condiment, and on and on. He nommed the food noisily as he shoved it into his maw.

A few short minutes later, there was no more edible items to be found, except a few crumbs around Brutis’ mouth. He stood there for a couple moments before the haze of hunger that had overtaken him began to fade. He blinked a few times and shook his head. “Wha… what happened…?” He looked down and saw the ravage place settings, wiped the crumbs off his mouth, and looked down at his belly, which was a little bigger than he last remembered it and gurgling happily. “Oh man, not again!!!” he shouted with exasperation. This wasn’t the first time his hunger had made him eat things without him knowing, and he panged with guilt over scaring the family as that memory returned. He sighed, grateful at least that the family wasn’t there to berate him. He walked over to his old spot, his belly full belly jiggling with each step, and slumped down onto his beach chair. He looked down at his belly and angrily said, “You can’t keep getting me into trouble like this.” His belly gurgled in response. “Fine, fine, I promise to feed you more if you stop this madness.” His belly purred happily, and Brutis rubbed it. He couldn’t stay mad at his belly. He closed his eyes again, and this time drifted into a nice nap, his belly noisily working on its new meal.

THE END

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Inspired by @borboryuck‘s adorable shark character <3