Zora Eaton had the most fabulous family. Her father was a sports coach and he taught her how to play all kinds of fun games like football and baseball and tennis, and he never once told her that any sport was something that girls shouldn't play. Her mom was a cooking whiz who liked to experiment with different foods. She went through phases in which her cooking was inspired by different subjects. cooking. There was her Disney phase when they'd had spaghetti and meatballs like in Lady and the Tramp, beignets like in The Princess and the Frog as well baked apples inspired by Snow White (Zora's little sister refused to eat those because she thought they were poison), and cupcakes shaped like Mickey Mouse ears. When she was in her Harry Potter phase, they ate yorkshire pudding, chocolate frogs and cauldron cake.
Zora's friends always loved coming over to see what her mother would be cooking up next although they would often turn their noses up at the thought of actually eating whatever it was. Zora's little sister Zuzu, was the same way. Zuzu was short for Suzanna, but nobody ever called her that. It was the name Zora had called her when Zuzu was born and she couldn't pronounce the name Suzanna, and the nickname had stuck. ZhuZhu would have been happy having macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, and pizza for dinner every night.
At the present time, Zora's mother was firmly entrenched in her nursery rhyme phase. They had already had hot cross buns, curds and whey (cottage cheese), and pumpkin pie. Zora was really excited to see what her mother was going to come up with next. She was not really that particular about food, and she enjoyed most of what her mother made although some of it more than others, of course.
"Hi mom!" she called out to her mother cheerfully after coming in from school and depositing her books on the floor near the door. She could smell something coming from the kitchen, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. She hurried into the kitchen and leaned over the pot where her mother stood stirring. "What is that?" she exclaimed in horror starring at the pukish green looking mixture.
"Pease Porridge." her mother told her as she continued stirring.
"Pease porridge?" repeated Zora but saying the name didn't make it seem any less horrible. She couldn't get that terrible picture of the greenish mixture out of her mind. Although she had been starving when she walked in the door, she suddenly lost her appetite and was glad dinner was several hours away. She didn't know how she was going to make it through the meal.
When it was finally dinnertime, Zora miserably trudged into the dining room at a snail's pace. "What's the matter?" asked her mother. "You look as if you are being led to your death." Zora didn't say anything. She just silently slid into her chair.
Her mother carefully spooned some of the gross mixture into bowls and passed them out. As her mother and father quickly began eating, Zora just stared at her food. Zuzu didn't eat either. She just moved the spoon around in her bowl.
"Eat it while it's hot." their mother instructed. "It tastes good." she assured them, but Zora somehow didn't think so.
"Too hot, too hot!" declared ZhuZhu shaking her head and banging her spoon on the table, but as her food cooled down she began eating.
"You like it cold?" asked their mother in surprise.
Frankly, Zora was suprised that she liked it at all, but ZhuZhu nodded happily and quickly lapped up the rest of her food. Zora still couldn't quite get herself to eat. "I'm not hungry." she declared although she was actually quite famished. "I am going to go upstairs and lie down." she announced quickly pushing her chair away from the table and jumping out her seat.
"Are you going to be alright?" her mother asked with great concern. She started to get up to go over to feel Zora's forehead.
Zora nodded. "I'm sure I'll be fine after I lie down for a little bit." She hurried out of the room before her mother could come over to her.
"It's too bad you didn't get to try any of the pease porridge." her mother symphathetically called after her. "But don't worry, There's a lot more." she added cheerfully.
Zora's sighed and wretchedly shook her head as she headed up the stairs. Darn! She forget that her mother would go on binges where she would make massive amounts of food. Sometimes, they would eat the same meal for a week. Why did now have to be one of those times Zora wondered miserably.
For over a week, they ate pease porridge for dinner every night. Zora feigned illness or pretended to eat every night. Later, she would be starving, and she would sneak a sandwich or something when her mother wasn't looking.
Zora's mother was worried about her. "Maybe, I should take you to the doctor." she fretted at dinner one evening. "You're hardly eating and your getting so skinny, and you seem to be not feeling well quite a lot. Maybe you're coming down with something."
"I'll be fine," Zora assured her quickly changing the subject and pretending to eat her food.
The next day, Zora was starving. It already been 8 days of pease pudding. She was hoping the 9th day would be the charm, and her mother would be ready to move on to something else. She looked in the refrigerator but there wasn't any bread left. She looked in the freezer but there wasn't any there either, In fact, there was hardly any food at all. She suddenly remembered that her mother had told her that she was going food shopping today so that's why she and ZhuZhu weren't there when Zora got home from school
Zora smiled happily, Surely, this meant it would be the end of her mother's pease porridge phase. She went in the other room to watch TV and wait for her mother to get home. After a little bit, her stomach started rumbling and she realized she was too hungry to wait. She went back in the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator and freezer again. All she could find was the last little bit of the pease porridge. She sighed unhappily and started to put it away, but then her stomach started rumbling loudly again, and she was starting to get a hunger headache, and she knew she couldn't wait any longer. She had to eat something now.
She walked over to the cupboard and got out a pot. She carefully poured the awful looking pease porridge mixture into the pot and heated it up. When she felt like it was hot enough, she scooped up a tiny bit on a spoon, blew on it to make sure it wasn't too hot, and very very slowly lifted it to her mouth and tasted. "That's not bad." she declared completely surprised to find out after all this time that she actually liked it. She sat down and quickly ate the whole bowl.
Aftewards, Zora went back to the refrigerator and freezer to see if she could find anymore, but there was none left. "Oh rats!" she exclaimed in disappointment. She couldn't wait for her mother to come home so she could ask her when they were going to have pease porridge again.
No comments:
Post a Comment