Rock the Baby - Episode 10

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Elevator

I probably spent a good five minutes or more running through my limited repertoire of yo-yo tricks. Finally I turned around and asked, “So, Doc, are you hungry?” She had been sitting waiting patiently while I was yo-yoing.

I told her the food was going to spoil if we didn’t eat it. I wrapped the onion rings in tin foil and grabbed the steaks from the counter. She followed me outside and I fired up the grill. While I tended to the food she was content to stand on the patio and watch. She still seemed a little drained from the revelation she had made a few minutes earlier.

There were a couple [okay, more than a couple] questions running through my head. I make it a point though to avoid asking questions that I don’t really want to know the answers to. That severely limited the potential for my inquiries.

Some people overwork food on the grill. They constantly poke and prod and flip. I think it’s best to keep the lid closed. Let the heat come at it from all sides. You only need to flip the steaks once to get the grill marks on both sides. Other than that, leave ‘em alone. Today I found I was poking and prodding and flipping. As soon as I realized that I closed the lid and took a deep breath.

“What exactly do you need to do to that thing in there?” I asked.

She explained her plan. The lab at headquarters has a vacuum chamber. She was going to put the cold fire in there and remove enough air to halt the combustion, then put everything into an insulating material to keep it from reigniting. I wanted to ask how to fix what was already messed up — power, water, transportation, communication, pretty much all of modern life — but I didn’t.

Instead I asked, “How do you like your steak?” I didn’t tell her, but I was afraid I had already messed up the food with all the flipping I had done earlier. We were going to get what we get whatever her answer was. I had to smile when I opened the grill and she said they look perfect as is. She volunteered to go in and set the table while I put the food on a platter.

When I brought in the food there were two places set at the table each with a bottle of water. The steel case was no where in sight. I was grateful for that. At the same time I wondered where she had stashed it. Something about not knowing where it is now that I now what it is had me feeling a little uneasy.

The steaks turned out better than I expected them to. I think the onion rings were really good too, but I like mine a little on the soggy side anyway. She said everything was wonderful but kind of in that way that any guest says when she doesn’t want to be impolite to her host. I wondered how long it had been since she ate last. Seems to me that it would be another impolite question for me to ask though.

I decided to risk being impolite in another way. There was one question that kept nagging me more and more. It went against the way I was raised to ask her, but I figure that anyone who brings a bomb into my house has already taken us beyond the limits of normal social interaction.

I looked across the table into those wonderful blue eyes. “Why me?” I asked. “Why did you ask me for help?”

Her answer, “Your yo-yo.”

.

.

.

Please come back next week for Episode 11.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.