Page 33 of Unexpected Pickle
“Yeah. They are all, you know, funny and cute and…” What the hell am I saying?
“Okay, Hex. Glad you’ve found some company.” She adjusts her veggies. “You’ll probably want to flip your steak unless you want it well done.”
Damn it. I wasn’t watching. I turn it over. It’s fine. I don’t care how it’s cooked. “Should I do my asparagus?”
“Sure.” She adjusts her chicken on the grill. “I left my sauce at the station. Watch mine for a sec?”
“Okay.”
She’s going to talk to Moreau. I just know it. They’ll arrange to meet later. Hang out in his cabin.
My whole body flashes with anger. I’m not letting her go. I move my meat on the grill again and again, unable to leave it alone.
She’s gone too long. She didn’t just get the sauce. She’s having a love connection with the French guy. I just know it.
I need this food to cook, and fast. I have to get back there and fix my screwup.
I crank the knobs until all the flames are blue, licking at the bottom of the metal grill.
That’s it. Now we’re cooking.
I flip my meat again. Juice sluices from it, making the fire roar up.
That’s the ticket. Another minute and I can get back to Jeannie and stop whatever’s happening.
I can’t just hand her over to Moreau. And I’ll confess straight up that I was talking out of my ass about Canadian chicks.
The smell of char makes me wrinkle my nose. I wave away the smoke.
My asparagus. It’s burning. Like, on fire.
Crap. What do I do?
There’s no water around here. The sinks are way down the wall.
“Help,” I say. “Water?”
The flames rush down the stems like a firecracker. The end of Jeannie’s skewer is too close.
“No!” I say, knocking it sideways so it won’t get burned.
But this makes it slide between the slats of the grill, dipping into the flames.
And the end catches in awhoosh.
“No, no, no!” I try to knock it again, but it’s hot. Where’s a pot holder?
I remember Jeannie used her dish towel. I grab it from my waist and try to snatch up the skewer, but I’m clumsy with all that cloth. The skewer tilts and all the veggies and onion slide off the end into the flames.
Then my towel catches fire!
I frantically pull it from my apron and toss it onto the grill.
WHOOSH. The flames go even higher.
The smoke gets thicker.
Then an alarm goes off.
