TTS2022 - Dinner - Non-writer

"Mr. Chase, your steak; rare as you requested. It is served with crispy roast potatoes, minted garden peas, honey roasted carrots and buttered broccoli. You have blue cheese sauce and there is gravy, if you'd like it. You also requested a cup of hot sweet tea, which will be brought to you shortly."

"Thank you James. May I call you James?"

"Today you can, Mr. Chase."

Well, where do I start on this perfect plate? When I was asked what I'd like for lunch I spent a full week deciding. I mean, this is a big occasion. This is memorable. This is history! I think I'll choose the gravy rather than the cheese sauce. It's more classic, more classy.

It had to be steak. I know everybody chooses steak, but I told the chef exactly how I like it cooked. A good sized knob of butter with two crushed garlic cloves on a high heat. Throw in the steak for exactly 90 seconds on each side and then out of the pan and onto the plate. I just had to choose what to have with it.

Nobody makes potatoes like my mother used to. She's gone now, God bless her, but from my youngest days to her last days I never had roast potatoes like hers. I used to watch her in the kitchen and learn all her secrets. Mom talked me through everything from the boiling, the shaking and drying, how to prepare the oven and roasting tin with the right temperature, fat and sprigs of rosemary, and most importantly, when to know they're done. The chef has done a great job following my instructions - I could not have done a better job myself. I must remember to congratulate him before I leave.

We lived, shall we say, on the wrong side of town. Our home was little more than a shack that steamed in the summer and leaked in the winter. In every season we somehow got wet. My first job was a butcher in town; a job that served me well throughout my life and enabled me to move out of mother's and into boarding rooms in town. One bitterly cold September afternoon an angel walked into the shop and stopped my heart dead. The most golden bright hair, skin so fresh and pale like she'd spent her whole life bathing in hot milk. Her cheeks and very tip of her nose were the colour of the roses in mother's garden. I never admitted to it, but I fell in love with her that very instant. Her name was Jade, on account of her green eyes, and no doubt because of how precious she was. It was at her parent's table that I first ever had green peas. Not just peas either, but minted peas. They were a sensation to me as a teenager and I almost felt as sophisticated as Jade's family. We were married within a year, much to Jade's parent's chagrin.

It didn't last. We argued a lot behind closed doors - she wasn't the quiet, shy type she looked like. We married too young, before we even knew ourselves properly, but you could say she woke me up and made me who I am today. Well, several women came in and out of my life after Jade in pretty fast succession. One of these was Jasmine, the buxom farmer's daughter. I never had a cold night when I was with her! The family farm was concerned with root veg, mainly carrots. They ate them by the sack-full with every meal. The trouble is when you eat something so much it becomes tasteless, so they used to cook them in sauces, with herbs, boiled, fried and roasted. All of them bored me, but never have I had a carrot like a young juicy one roasted with honey. That flavour stayed with me for years, and why it's ended up on my plate today.

"Mr Chase, your tea. Two sugars, just how you like it."

"Thank you James, I really do appreciate it."

Several years ago I met this English girl who was on holiday with her parents. Ordinarily it's either coffee or beer for me, but Rose taught me all about tea. I don't often have it, but when I do I have it exactly like she used to make it for me; two sugars and milk. Apparently something happened in Boston about tea back in the old days, but I didn't really take it in at the time Rose told me, so I can't be precise about the details. It turned out she would become my second wife after I accidentally made her pregnant. Our child didn't make into this world, and our relationship ended soon after.

I never remarried after Rose, as I really didn't see the point. I don't think I'm cut out for long relationships due to the lack of excitement after a while together. I much prefer the courting of young ladies and then move onto the next one when I need someone fresh. I was 32 when I had my first taste of broccoli. I can tell you in all honesty I was not impressed with it's bland watery flavour. That is, until my boss's daughter suggested I try it sauted in butter. She was right, it transformed it. Boiling is OK for root veg, but anything grown above ground benefits something a bit more subtle. Jenny was her name and she looked much older than she was at the time. I was very reluctant to date my boss's daughter, of course, but chemistry is chemistry and nobody can stop it.

"Mr Chase, I'm sorry but you have 10 minutes before we have to leave."

"Yes, James, thank you."

Although she was a great girl, Jenny was the one who ended everything for me. My life was over after her. Her dad was not happy and threatened to fire me if we continued, but Jenny said she'd run away and disown him if he did. As I sit here looking at my empty plate except for the blood of my steak and the remains of my gravy I am reminded of that last night. Jenny's dad had come looking for her at the shack I inherited from Mom. It was raining hard so the hole I was digging kept slipping in, so I thought I'd wait until morning. That was when Jenny's dad, my boss turned up. Of course, he saw Jenny piled up in the yard, cut into pieces and her blood swirling in the mud. I don't much remember anything after that. At the court house they said they'd found Mom and Jade and Rose, the baby and all the others. I tasted every one of them, but I didn't tell them that. It's too much for some people.

"OK Mr. Chase, it's time to leave."

Yes, Officer James, right away. Please pass on my compliments to the chef, I couldn't have cooked that meal better myself. Truly wonderful. Will anyone be watching today?"

"Yes, Mr. Chase, there is a small gallery for press and any of the victim's family members to attend for their closure and to see justice being done. I think you have quite a full attendance. Don't worry, you won't feel a thing. We've made the injection quite painless now."

The END

Chills down my spine!

Very well written IMO

a reply to: TerraLiga

Ohhhhh.. thats an interesting angle... I enjoyed the stories misdirection.



Thanks for your submission and good luck in the Contest.
Johnny

Thank you all. I wanted to write a story that reveals itself fully when you read it a second time, after the punch is revealed.

It was going to be a bit longer, but it lost some its impact so I kept it as short as possible.

Thank you all again, I'll save a couple more ideas I have for the next theme.

Good luck to the entrants, there are a few beauties in this comp.

Ohhh....good entry...wishing you luck for the contest.

One question though.

I tasted every one of them

Okay, was that metaphorically or literally?

a reply to: Moonstar7

Thank you!

Literally. I invented Mr Chase as a cannibal who ate his victims using their own favourite recipes, plus loads of other things, but it was too long in the first draft so I cut it down quite a lot. I also originally wrote it a bit more vague than this version.

Cheers!