Lucas was a little bit relieved to be out of the store since the shopkeeper was weird and he didn't have any money. Some stores don't like it when you just come in and loiter without buying anything. Fortunately, things had turned out pretty well, though. Lucas got a chance to cool off, and the shopkeeper was just a nut who apparently wanted to ramble some kind of philosophy with whoever came in. That "Wheel of Purpose" business was pretty eccentric. It was like a fortune cookie, but without the cookie. At least Lucas's fortune was somewhat flattering: his supposed purpose would be to feed the hungry. Perhaps it really should be an impetus for Lucas to do more for charity or something. Maybe he could organize a food drive? How exactly do you go about that? Besides, who knows: if he ever managed to finally get his adult life off the ground, maybe Lucas would really do something important that changed the world for the better. Someone, somewhere is going to find the solution to world hunger, right? It could be anyone.
Of course, that someone would not be Lucas, but he had no way of knowing that just yet. All he knew was that visiting the magic shop did, surprisingly, make him feel much better about himself on an otherwise depressing summer day. Arriving back at his front yard, Lucas stopped and stared at the grass. It took him a while to figure out why exactly it was so mesmerizing. Lucas's mother was very meticulous about keeping a nice lawn, and it often attracted the attention of passers by, but Lucas's interest in it was different. The grass wasn't only beautiful, green, or well cut. It was, for lack of a better word, appetizing.
Lucas's stomach growled. He took a big breath through his nose and licked his lips at the warm, moist aroma of the grass. Surely it would be silly to take a big bite of grass from his mother's perfectly manicured lawn. Silly, perhaps, but hard to resist. Lucas turned around to make sure no one was looking and then pulled up a blade of grass and stuck it in his mouth. He rolled it around a bit and swallowed it. Eating a little piece of grass was very unsatisfying for Lucas--not in a way that made him lose interest, but rather in a way that tantalized him. His stomach begged him for more, and he soon found himself on his knees ripping out handfuls of grass and stuffing them in his maw. Chewing them was like squeezing a stress ball, and swallowing them was like drinking hot chocolate. Lucas started to ask himself why he hadn't done this before. Who knew that one of the most pleasant meals a young man could ask for had been growing right under his nose for all these years?
Soon, Lucas had given up on using his hands as anything other than supports. He spent much of the evening on all fours with his face to the ground. It was embarrassing, at first, but not enough to stop him. He entered into a kind of trance, focusing himself totally and getting more grass into his mouth and into his belly. He barely even noticed his parents when came home, and his mom didn't say a word to him about munching on her perfect lawn. By the time he snapped out of it, he could smell dinner in the kitchen. He wasn't hungry anymore, but he decided he should at least go in and try to explain what he'd done. His hands and mouth were stained with green, and a dirt patch was visible where he had been standing on all fours. He wiped his hands on his shirt and walked in the front door.
"Hi, mom," he said sheepishly.
"Oh, hi Lucas. What are you doing in the house?"
"Oh, I ... just figured it was time to come in. I have something of a confession to make..."
"Oh? You? A confession?"
"Yeah, I, I'm really sorry, but I kind of ... messed up your lawn a little bit. I'm really sorry, I just couldn't help myself for some reason. I started eating the grass, and I just couldn't stop. I guess I've kind of ruined my appetite, too, so I probably wouldn't eat any of your beef stew."
"That's it? Lucas, why wouldn't you be eating grass? I certainly don't expect you to eat beef stew, that would be silly."
Lucas was very confused by his mother's reaction. It was almost like she thought what he did was normal, like eating grass instead of regular food was just something Lucas would naturally do. He didn't know what to say, so he just went upstairs, washed his hands, and sat down in his room to play video games. Oddly, his video games were all gone, and no one seemed to be aware that he ever had any. It was just as well, though, because Lucas realized that he wasn't really in the mood for games. His tummy felt queasy, and he decided he really just needed a relaxing place to rest. Sitting peacefully on his bed, Lucas burped and hiccuped a couple of times, and then his throat unexpectedly sprayed warm, wet mush up into his mouth. Holding his mouth shut tight, Lucas scurried to the toilet and spit out the substance into the water. He realized that he had just thrown up some of the grass that he had eaten earlier! Oddly, though, he couldn't help but feel that spitting out and flushing the wad of half-chewed grass had been a waste and that he shouldn't have been so hasty to give up on his partially dinner. Throwing up grass hadn't really felt bad at all, he realized, and he really couldn't convince himself that he felt sick. Another wad of grass came up, and this time Lucas chewed it some more and swallowed it back down, hoping he could still get some nourishment out of it.
Before much longer, Lucas was sitting on his bed with barely a thought in his head, quietly chewing his dinner all over again with no complaints. He knew it was strange, but he didn't care. It was too relaxing, and if no one was going to give him trouble about eating part of the lawn and there was nothing else to do, why should he be hard on himself about getting a little extra enjoyment out of the experience? For all Lucas knew, this might even be the solution to world hunger. He daydreamed about himself winning an award for his discovery that grass not only fills you up, you even get to eat it twice. Just think of how many people we could feed if we would just let them eat stuff that grows under their feet every day?
Finally deciding it was time for bed, Lucas changed into his pajamas and noticed his new body hair. It was short but copious, and it was jet black! "I guess a good meal really does put hair on your chest," he laughed. Resting for the night, he dreamed about wide fields with free food as far as the eye could see.