A father undergoes a surgical procedure where a ticking device is implanted in his heart. Afterward, he watches graphic cellphone videos depicting cannibalism, noticing the discomfort of the cannibal. He worries that this perceived weakness will lead to the downfall of the cannibal and his associates. Family dynamics come into play as the narrator confronts a brother suspected of sharing these violent videos with their father, discussing the differences between American and Afghan social media content and the psychological impact of exposure to such horror.
They cut open my father's chest and splayed his ribs out beneath their halogen lamps and, inside his heart, they inserted a ticking device whose purpose we couldn't exactly discern.
My father notices, when he sits in our living room to watch grainy cellphone footage of this performance, is that the cannibal grimaces while eating the human heart.
If he, watching the footage, has noticed the grimace, then surely rival gang members will have noticed the weakness, too, and that will condemn not only the cannibal.
It all fucks with your head just the same.
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