Page 19 of Trucker
“I haven’t tasted it yet.” I admitted. “But honestly, you didn’t have to do all this. Cooking a Jamaican meal takes forever and is a lot of work.”
“Welcome to Albright!” Taji’s grin returned, somehow brighter than before. “Sit—taste—let me know how I did. I’m a little worried about the amount of black pepper it was telling me to add—if you need more, we can always add.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.”
“Fine?” Taji folded her arms and huffed. “Fine? No one wants fine.”
I laughed, softly and nodded.
“How did you learn to do this?” I eased into one of the chairs as she sat across from me.
“Would you believe YouTube?” She served me some tea.
I arched a brow.
“I’m serious.” She offered a one shoulder shrug. “You’d be surprised the things you can learn on that site. I’m curious about what else I could find on there but I’m scared to check.”
Nodding, I served some Ackee and Codfish onto my plate then added a perfectly rounded dumpling. I made a mental note to ask her how because mine always came out looking weird.
Sighing, I added a boiled green banana and a piece of yellow yam. I stared at the dumpling, remembering a childhood friend’s grandmother making them. Hers were bigger and made so tightly, they flaked dangerously while they cooked.
These were made by a daintier hand with more patience and care.
Taji watched me carefully as I took my first bite.
The familiar taste of home exploded on my tongue, and I couldn’t help smiling and nodding.
“This is delicious.”
“You’re not just saying that, right?” Taji leaned forward, pointing her fork at me. “You don’t have to spare my feelings. I can take it, I promise.”
“I’m not just saying that.” I promised. “There is one thing missing.”
“Really? What?”
“There’s this thing call annatto.” I lifted a piece of dumpling to my lips. “I have a friend whose mother would cook for us. She’d put the pot on, pour the oil it and let it heat. Then she’d add a few grains of annatto just to give the oil this beautiful, reddish colour. Of course, she’d have to scrape the grains out before adding the food.”
“YouTube never told me that.”
Laughing softly, I reached over to tap her hand.
“Not many people know about that.” I whispered like I was telling her government secrets. “This is perfect, I promise.”
My grandmother had been the only person who went out of her way like this for me. I grew up without parents and had always felt alone until she stepped in and gave me the love and care no one else had. Then there was Zoom and after that the guys at the station before she brought Kaos and the others into my life.
It seemed being a firefighter gave me a new life.
“This is amazing.” I added.
Taji exhaled loudly then focused on adding food to her plate.
“You would not believe the strange looks I got when I walked into the store in Malko County and began adding things to my cart.”
“I can imagine.”
“I literally had them calling their friends.” She pointed out. “By the time I got to the front, there was a group of them just staring and whispering. One asked if I was sure I knew what I was doing.”
“What did you tell them?”
