Chapter 11

"Why are we here again?"

"Well, they're here," I said pointing at Traci and Kelly, "'cause I got stuck doing the grocery shopping and needed someone to fetch and carry. Tami's here 'cause I get lonely without her. You're here 'cause you got nothing better to do."

Robbie glared but didn't deny it.

I shrugged. "Football's over. The play's done except for the judging. Baseball doesn't start till next month. I suppose you could stay home and study, hoping to beat certain people in class standings, but why waste your time?"

"You're getting pretty smug. Care for a side bet?"

"What'd you have in mind?" I asked warily

Robbie grinned. "How about your car against mine."

Tami giggled. "He'd bet me first."

Not true. I'd never bet Tami. But then, I'd never bet my 'Stang either.

"What could I possibly win to replace you, my little Mustang."

"My little Little Mustang? Still trying to find a pet name?"

I shrugged.

Tami giggled. "My Little Mustang. I kinda like it." Tami glided into my arms and locked her lips against mine.

"Do you really think Wally's Grocery World is the best place for that?" Robbie asked sarcastically several seconds later.

Tami pulled back, embarrassed, but I smiled. "The store will thank us. They'll sell more oysters and asparagus."

Robbie shook her head but Traci and Kelly looked confused. "Why?" Kelly asked.

"They're considered aphrodisiacs," Robbie said, still shaking her head.

Tami saw that Kelly and Traci were still confused. "What's an aphrodisiac?" she asked, knowing the younger girls wouldn't want to.

Robbie looked startled at the question, then realized why Tami had asked it.

"Some foods are supposed to make people feel sexy. Or sexier," I said. "Oysters and asparagus are two of the most famous."

"Figs, truffles, caviar and bananas are some others," Robbie added, not to be outdone.

"Why?" Kelly asked.

"Do they?" said Traci at the same time.

Learning may be a good thing but I wasn't sure I wanted my sister knowing about aphrodisiacs.

"Oysters were thought to be aphrodisiacs because they can change sex from male to female and back again," Robbie explained.

"Eeeeew!" both girls chorused.

"I'm not sure about the others," Robbie admitted. "Professor?"

"I know asparagus goes back to the nineteenth century. They used to feed it to bridegrooms, but I don't know how it started. Figs go back to the ancient Greeks. Bananas, I think because of their shape."

The younger girls looked confused again, but Robbie made some kind of motion I couldn't see and they giggled and nodded.

"Do they work?" Traci asked again. Damn one-track mind.

"Most of them, no. Except in people's minds, which I guess is enough," I said, hoping to close the subject.

"According to Wikipedia, bananas are full of bromelain," Robbie added. "It's an enzyme that enhances male performance."

"I'm for that," Traci said with a grin. I decided one banana in our cart and I was locking her in her room.

"Anybody know where they hide the maraschino cherries?"

"I do," Kelly announced and scampered away as I studied my list again. Ground beef, check. Ribeyes, check. Pork roast, check. Chicken thighs ... I looked up and saw the old guy again. I'd seen him half-a-dozen times in the twenty minutes we'd been shopping, and he always seemed to be staring at us. I figured he was a pervert checking out the girls. I mean, Tami, Robbie, Kelly, and even Traci were worth staring at. But he really wasn't staring that way, it was more like he was trying to figure something out.