Chương 1129: Day One Thousand One Hundred And Twenty-Seven

Dear Diary, Y'know, days like the majority of this past week remind me of one of my old teachers from back in the day. It was one of those classes with Special Needs kids, so there was another teacher in the class, and one day when was feeling myself I sauntered into class and said, "how ya doin?" To which the co-teacher replied, "can't complain." So I looked at the teacher and said, "same?" I still remember the look of horror he shot me, shaking his head and saying, "no, no, no.

As a former Teamster and union member in good standing, not only can I complain no matter the circumstances, I believe I'm contractually obligated to complain at every opportunity, no matter how overall pleasant I find the situation." At that time I found that just the right mix of pretentious and stupid to laugh my ass off at it, and somehow that managed to sear that into my brain. Also, that day's lesson, which was the energy required or released during phase changes.

Then again, that might have been making ice cream in class with nothing but ice, salt, coffee creamer, and Ziploc bags. Lest it be misconstrued, the stupid simple lab wasn't because of it being a lack of creativity or professionalism on the part of the teacher. But actual legit lab supplies are spendy, and dude was paying out his own pocket for every lab we did, so we did a lot of 'kitchen chemistry'.

It also wasn't because of it being a Special Need class, because like half of the Spec Ed classes at Eastside had nothing to do with, for lack of a better term, being slow. Hell, more than half of them were kids who'd been identified as having 'behavioral learning disabilities'. Shit, that might have been why I was in that class. Really makes me feel some kinda way that it took me half a decade to realize that. Then again, maybe I wasn't in a place to let it register before.

Seriously, I've worked long and hard to get where I am, mental health wise, but now that I'm here I can see where yeah, kids like me needed some extra attention, and the only way to get that is to put another warm adult body in the room. It was a pretty nice body, too. Think she was an Olympic hopeful. Which was something worth being back in the day, but I can't see where it would have any kind of good connotations here and now.

My original point, though, which I very much had, was that while I've been consistently bitching about the boredom of listening to five law nerds nerding out about laws, I would rather have that boredom than any amount of violent excitement.

I mean, shit, while it's boring when I try to be a good negotiator and keep track of the details of each contract we're working with, there are in fact five nerds nerding out, which my only problem with ought to be Blending enough so they don't notice the smell of a day long bean burnishing session. Oh, no, they're hot! Yeah, I gotta laugh at my own first world problems sometimes.

So at the end of the day yesterday Kitten reminded me we had family therapy today, then made sure I needed it by telling me we'd be back to contract reconciliation on Monday. Which, given that the reconciliation for two contracts took a day, I'm guessing reconciliation of three contracts is gonna take at least two days. I'm really hoping it doesn't take four. At any rate, I head bunted her, then said, "at least I've got plenty of chicken tendies for dinner."

"I think your Mother has some fish dishes she wanted us to try as well." I wrinkled my nose, for whatever reason remembering things I'd seen from Scandinavia involving 'fermented fish'.

"Yeah, I'll try them, but I can't promise I'll like them." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"I hope you won't ruin Maze or Lindsey's enjoyment of them, at least." I froze, then hugged her.

"Thanks for reminding me, Kitten. I'd rather choke down something awful with a smile than do that to our kids." She hugged me back, reminding me how much I enjoyed her padding, and replied, "of course, Goof. That's why we have each other, to help keep us from slipping." Collapsed us back to the Homestead along with all the kids, then sent them on their way to get cleaned up and ready for a sleepover. While I gathered up dinner, Doc Glass wandered into the Kitchen.

Marie looked over at the intruder into her demesnes, and he gave her a full head nod bow thing. Like, nothing fancy, but clearly acknowledging her as the one in charge of the room.

"Pardon, Marie, but I was wondering something?" She nodded acknowledgement and said, "Go On?"

"While you're gone this evening with your family, I wanted to make something for Joe?" She stepped over, Uncanny Valley in full effect as she reached out, reached around him to put a claw across his back, then pulled him into a hug.

"Of Course." She spent the rest of the time before we left going over where she stored all the pots, pans, utensils, and foodstuffs. Before we left she ruffled his hair and said, "Good Luck!" I mean, on the one hand I was a little surprised Doc G didn't blow a gasket at being treated like a kid. But on the other hand, she had multiple millennia on him, and being treated like a welcome newbie in a Michelin star restaurant kitchen wasn't exactly an insult. Oh. Oh, fuck.

I just realized, I've complimented Marie's cooking at every fuckin' turn, talked about how it's literally better than anything I ever tasted or even saw back in the day, but I've never quite connected that to the fact that Marie treats me as... Maybe not an equal, but definitely a peer, at least in the kitchen. Which is a huge assed compliment, and I'm only realizing it now.

Okay, maybe I've realized that in other ways before, but shit, if there's any benefit of my whole assed untreated severe ADHD lack of object permanence, it's forgetting cool things and getting the whole rush of happy brain chemicals when I discover them again. After leaving Doc G in the Kitchen, we scooped up the kids and hopped over to Dad's place for the weekly sleepover. Mom did in fact have some fish stuff for the girls. The kits, Lindsey, and Maze all loved it.

Menace and Ria both kinda tolerated it, and Alex ate some when Sigyn told her it helped build muscle. I tried it. I was very brave, and I leaned on my Blend while eating it. Two ultra crunchy tendies later I could barely taste it. Dad pulled me over and quietly said, "you know, if you don't like that fish, there's a recipe I learned from an old man back when I invented the fishing net."

"I mean, I do fried fillets all the time, and at some point I think I'm gonna get Marie to teach me how to do sushi, but go on."

"It's a recipe for dogfish. Which is important, especially when times are lean, because dogfish is notoriously unpalatable." I nodded.

"Okay, yeah. Was that dogfish tonight?" He chuckled and shook his head.

"No, but I'll admit pickled fish can be an acquired taste. No, dogfish is normally foul, but would you like the recipe?" I nodded.

"Take one dogfish. The entire thing, mind you. Don't skin it, don't gut it. The whole thing."

"Okay."

"You'll need a campfire and two slabs of wood, as well as some rope or nails. Secure the dogfish between the planks. With nails, with rope, with both if need be." He paused, and I nodded.

"Go on?"

"Put the entire thing in the campfire. Let it burn until it goes out. And then..." He paused long enough that I sighed and said, "and then?"

"Pull the planks off, throw the dogfish away, and eat the planks." Yeah, total dad joke, but, y'know, Dad. I laughed, hugged him, and said, "thanks, Dad. You're the best." I felt him smile when he returned the hug and replied, "I know." No huge breakthroughs today. Talked about how I felt some kinda guilty about being upset at the boredom during the negotiations, especially since 'not boring' generally equals 'somebody dies'.

Weirdest thing was Saffron and Tallulah nodding along, like maybe they weren't completely as engrossed by the whole process as I thought they were. As the girls talked out their troubles sharing their bigger toys and stuff, like the game tables, with Doctors Glass and Zeccardi mediating, Saffron slid up to me. I'm glad you're there and paying attention, love. Yeah, I know. I just gotta stop thinking about how much you five nerding out makes me want to turn the room into an orgy.

She smirked, then thought, I hope you can, because I'm relying on you more than you realize. Huh? Eloquence, thy name is Tabitha. Then Saffron blew my mind by thinking, whose Memory do you think I'm referencing and leaning on when we're in the middle of debating things?