I wanted to post a small sample of what I'm working on, and get your impressions. Is it good? Does it make you hungry? Whenever I read Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides or Beach Music, his descriptions of food are so good my mouth starts watering. That's the kind of effect I'm going for. :o). Enjoy.
The restaurant may not have been far, but once we were off our street I quickly got lost as we made one turn after another. After we turned down a side street, whose name I never caught, we soon reached the restaurant, whose name was in Italian and in a script my brain refused to translate. The Drs. Watson were evidently regulars for they were greeted like long lost family, and we were soon seated at a small booth in a quiet corner with a bottle of wine and plates of warm bread and butter without even being asked.
“How were things at home?” Dr. John asked as he poured me a glass of the wine, now that we were in a place where I was above the legal drinking age. “How are Cormac and Deirdre? Are they both okay?”
Sipping the lovely Italian red, I knew he wasn’t asking just to be polite. The Drs. Watson had met my mum and her twin several times during my time at college, and had become friends with them both. I thought it only fitting, after all Cormac and Deirdre are the two most important people in my life at home, and totally awesome people besides. Not that I’m biased or anything.
“Dee didn’t freak too badly watching her baby get on a big jet plane ready to fly all by herself across the great big ocean, did she?” Laura paused as the waiter served our salads and left before continuing, “The trip was okay?”
“They’re both fine. We had a nice relaxing Christmas. Mum, Cor, and the aunts got together, decided I needed a break before I hit grad school, and gave me the money for my ticket as a graduation present. I think mum cried more at the airport than when they first took me to school. Okay, all three of us were bawling like babies. But the flight over was a breeze.” The smile I gave them was as much in relief as it was in thanks. To say that things had been getting bad at home was an understatement of Titanic proportions. I’d not had any job offers before graduation, despite some very serious job hunting, and this trip gave me some much needed breathing room to decide what to do with my life without my grandparents and great-grandfather’s attempts at intimidation and coercion.
The salad had been replaced with soup, filled with vegetables and pieces of chicken and smelling of Italy. It was during one of those naturally occurring silences when everyone had their mouths full that I quickly swallowed and asked the question that had begun to worry me, “So what do you want me to do while you’re gone? And are you going to be gone the entire time I’m here? The place is gorgeous by the way. And I noticed the reproduction Adams mantles in the living room and the library. Very cool.”
“I’m glad you like them,” Dr. John teased. “We’ll know just where to look if they turn up missing.” Turning serious for a moment, he looked across the table at me and added, “Just keep an eye on the house when you’re in the city, but don’t feel as if you have to spend all of your time here, we want you to feel free to travel around and see as much of the country as you want. And then in the spring if the offer is still open, if you could do your usual magic with the garden. I think we should confess that we did come up with the house sitting as an excuse to get you over here. But I would feel better if the house weren’t left empty.”
The talking was stopped temporarily by the appearance of the main dish, braised pork with potatoes and onions and carrots in a sauce with just a few stewed tomatoes to sweeten the dish. We ate giving our dinner the attention it deserved and then thanked the chef profusely when he came to say hello to Dr. John and Laura and to present desert: a luscious chocolate cake served warm with home-made vanilla ice cream and smothered in thick, creamy hot fudge and topped with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
Mysterious Firsts #15- Sherlock Holmes
13 hours ago
