Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Ah…I see.” Andi nodded.
“Nice try, partner,” she heard Thrax mutter in her ear. “But I’m not anxious to eat that fucking stuff either.”
Andi smothered a smile. She hadn’t really been trying to feed him the wow-wow stew—she’d just been looking for an excuse to change the subject.
Luckily, the soup course didn’t last very long. A moment later the servants came and whisked away their bowls as well as the vast, half-full tureens.
“Oh good—it’s time for the main course!” Shanna said expectantly. “Pantyitch always has the most sumptuous dishes for her mains!”
Andi just hoped that whatever came next wasn’t alive. Soon enough, a servant placed a large silver platter covered in a silver dome in front of her. With a flourish, he withdrew the dome and a cloud of fragrant-smelling steam puffed out, making her stomach growl.
At first, Andi couldn’t see what was on the silver platter because of the steam. The scent was delicious though—like a mixture of roast beef and bacon— and her mouth was watering. This time, as long as it wasn’t alive, she really was going to try whatever it was, she promised herself. She was getting so hungry.
But when the steam finally cleared she felt a burst of disappointment. Lying on the silver platter on a bed of decorative greens was what appeared to be an alligator head as long as her forearm.
If an alligator had a huge, fleshy nose, anyway, Andi thought to herself. The dark green, scaly skin was stretched tight over the long, boney skull and the eyes were an opaque white from being cooked. Sharp, yellow teeth stuck out from between its jaws and the end of the snout was bulbous and about as big as Andi’s fist. The flesh there was pink rather than green. It quivered like Jell-O when Andi poked it with the two-tined fork-like instrument beside her plate.
“Now I’m sure you can’t object to this,” Shanna said to her, smiling eagerly. “It’s clearly dead.”
“Yes, it is,” Andi agreed. “Er…what is it?”
“Oh, this is a kroc-o-wow—it’s actually the grown version of the little wow-wows we had in the stew during the last course,” Shanna explained. “These are juvenile specimens though—they can actually get as big as this table, when they’re full-grown,” she added.
“Really? As big as the table?” Andi looked down the length of the enormous dining table with surprise. She’d watched a documentary with her daughter once about a “super-croc” that had walked the Earth during the dinosaur days—a full grown kroc-o-wow would have to be that size or even bigger, she thought.
“Oh yes—they get huge,” Shanna said, nodding. “That’s why it’s so dangerous to go down into the swamps—it’s the main reason almost all our farming is done by robots.”
“That makes sense.” Andi nodded.
“Try it,” Shanna urged. “The eyes are delicious when they’ve been steamed like this. But it’s the snout-meat that’s the real delicacy—it’s so tender it just melts in your mouth!”
Andi didn’t especially want to try the “snout-meat” of the kroc-o-wow at all, but it did smell good and she’d promised herself she would try it as long as it wasn’t alive. She poked the gelatinous pink, fist-sized snout with her fork again and tore off a small chunk which quivered like jelly. Closing her eyes, she popped it in her mouth…and had to fight the urge to spit it right back out again.
It wasn’t the flavor but the texture that bothered her. It was like pork-flavored Jell-O and when it melted, it filled her mouth with little grainy bits like gristly bacon bits. Ugh!
Andi quickly took a big gulp from her wine glass, but that turned out to be a mistake. It was filled with a liquor that tasted like salty black licorice which made her gag.
“Take it easy, there, partner,” she heard Thrax mutter in her ear. “Was it that bad?”
“Worse!” Andi whispered back, putting down the cup and signaling for a servant. “Excuse me, but can I please get some water?” she asked politely when he put his head down to hear her. “As soon as possible?”
“But of course, my Queen.” The servant nodded smoothly and glided away. He came back in a moment with a glass of cold, clear water, much to Andi’s relief.
She drank thirstily, washing away the taste of both the kroc-o-wow snout and the black licorice liquor.
“Better now?” Thrax asked in a low voice.
“Much.” Andi sat the water glass down beside her plate. “But I’m still hungry.”
“Don’t worry—I’ve got some protein bars with me,” he assured her. “We’ll eat some later when we get a chance.”
Andi felt a surge of gratitude.
“Thanks, partner,” she murmured.
“Anything for you, my Queen,” was his droll reply which nearly made her snort with laughter. It occurred to her that they had been through some weird and awkward things together today but as long as they could still make each other laugh, their partnership was still strong.