Thursday, May 19, 2022

Who It Was And Who It Wasn't

The next town is Gatton, the Salad Bowl of Queensland.

Katherine learns this from a sign.

It sets her off thinking again about the emu neck soup she had planned to abandon.

What was that recipe?

Baked Emu and Crushed Pumpkin. The picture looked nice.

And what a waste, should she not use the meat cuts.

Gatton.

There will surely be pumpkins.

She stops in the main street.

Yay! Are we there? asks Terence.

No, just a quick stop in Gatton to look for a pumpkin, says Katherine.

She gets out of the Rio, and goes into Spano's.

What does she want a pumpkin for? asks Terence.

Who knows? says Roo-kai. She may be rethinking the soup.

Pumpkin soup? asks Terence.

She might put the emu meat in it, says Roo-kai. So it's not wasted.

She can't! cries Terence. It might be Snowy or Loonymoon! 

That it could not be, says Roo-kai.

How do YOU know? wails Terence.

Even WE know, says Quiet-Tartus.

It's all in the timing, says Shorty-Tartus. Like boxing.

He throws a frog punch. His emu plumes sway and flutter.

It would look alarming. 

If you were a frog.

Think, Terence, says Roo-kai. We were talking to Snowy and Lunar Moon, while Katherine was inside Emu Heaven. 

Then she came out, says Terence.

And the meat was already wrapped up, says Roo-kai. Therefore it could not have been them.

No it couldn't, says Quiet-Tartus. 

I'm supposed to say that, says Terence.

Say it then, says Shorty-Tartus.

No, says Terence. 

Of course, it would have been some emu or other, says Roo-kai.

Terence says nothing.

But they wouldn't chop up the albinos, says Roo-kai. They are too special.

And probably too low in iron, says Shorty-Tartus.

Exactly, says Roo-kai. Happy, Terence?

Katherine comes back with a pumpkin, two onions and a clove of garlic.

I'm not too sure I'll use the garlic, says Katherine.

(That's because she is Scottish).


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