Strangers in the Night
Copyright© 2015 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 9
"Which secretary is he fucking?" my stepmother asked me.
I'd arrived home just before dinner, and I was half starved. I cleaned up and the girls sat at table. My body knew what was coming but my mind had never smelled anything like what was wafting from the kitchen in my life.
"Hungry?" Wendy said.
In defense, my stomach produced an entire drum solo.
"What is that wonderful smell?"
"Karjalanpaisti," (hot pot) she said, "Beef, pork and lamb hot pot, served with mashed potato and lingonberry jam, but first we have leipäjuusto (bread cheese) Oven-cooked cheese that squeaks when you bite into it, hot with cloudberry jam."
More drum solo. My body knew.
Stepmom carried in the cheese on a polished walnut plank and laid it on the table in front of me. The pot of hot cloudberry jam was orange and yellow whole berries in a glaze-sauce that screamed calories.
"Serve us, David," she said.
The cheese was hot but not melted ... brown spots over all from the oven. I had all the plates stacked in front of me. When I sliced into the cheese it was pure white inside. A scoop of jam decorated the cheese and I passed the plate. I got mine last... Wipe Out was playing in my gut.
A bite ... the body knew ... the mind did backflips.
"He likes it," Wendy said.
Stepmom agreed.
The maids cleared away those plates and served the karjalanpaisti with perunarieska (hot potato flatbread with melted butter) on the side.
Very soon it was the click and clank of silver on ceramic and the voices of teen age girls talking about the WRC drivers.
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