What’s for Supper?

by Stephen Halpert

It was nearly time for supper. Tasha had been out all day shopping and doing errands with her friend. Just before six she breezed in and handed me a brown paper bag. “Sorry I’m late. Hope you’re not starved but here’s something to tide you over ’till I get the perishables put away and supper started. I hope you had something for lunch.”  She opened the ‘fridge and began to poke around.

I removed the plastic container from the bag. “Fresh salmon rolls, yum! I did manage to find a few leftovers in the fridge, nothing memorable but certainly sufficient.” I gave her a hug. “I’m not totally incompetent you know.”

“Well, that’s good. I never thought you were.” She held me in a hug back.

“These look delicious. Thank you.”

“But if you’ve already eaten. Maybe you’d like to save them?”

“I really didn’t have that much.” I pried open the container and squeezed wasabi over the uncooked wild salmon delicately mingled with seaweed, sesame seeds, fresh spinach and other greens.

 She started to put stuff away. “Hmm,” she said. There’s a lot more space in here than there was this morning. What else did you have for lunch?”

“Nothing special.” I thought back. “I finished the last of the curried turkey salad.”

She frowned. “I thought there was enough left for two servings.”

I sighed. “Possibly, but I had waited to eat until two thirty and by then I was famished.”

“I’ll have to make it again.”

“Yes. Please do. It was a wonderful appetizer. Saved me from the throes of starvation and gave me sufficient strength to rummage through the rest of the leftovers. I finished the goat cheese, too.” I smiled, waving my fork. “These salmon rolls are delicious.”

She raised her eyebrows. “All the goat cheese?”

“I thought about making a grilled cheese sandwich, but I didn’t want to take time away from working on my collage. So, I just sliced it, added the potato salad, and finished the rest of the smoked salmon and what was left of the pecan pie.”

She looked at me oddly. “That explains why there’s so much room in here. I hope all that was sufficient.”

“Oh, it was. And you know that zucchini bread our friend brought over the other day?  Well, it works really well when it’s served under scoops of sorbet, sliced fruit, a few dabs of raspberry jam along with some chocolate sauce. Really puts the finishing touches on a wonderful snack.” 

Her eyes widened. “Snack! I wouldn’t call what you had a snack. Sounds to me like you polished off a kingly banquet of calories.”

“I wouldn’t go that far. All the leftovers were minimal and don’t forget, by two thirty I was famished.”

She looked in the ‘fridge. “You could have heated yourself some vegetables. There’s broccoli and squash still in here.” Her voice slipped a notch. “That might have been healthier for you, instead of filling up on comfort food.”

I frowned. “You don’t really expect me to dive into something like broccoli, do you? Unless the situation is desperate and there’s nothing else, especially if I’m starved and you’re not home?”

“But broccoli is so important for its nutritional value.”

“To me eating broccoli is at best like doing some kind of penance.” I finished the last morsel of the raw salmon roll and patted my stomach. “Delicious! And thanks again. Now tell me, what’s for supper?”

She looked at me and sighed. “Considering everything you’ve already put away today I’d think that you might have had enough to eat.” She paused. “And I’m not very hungry, myself.”

I nodded and sighed. “I guess I could rough it. Just drink water, maybe have a cup of miso?”

She smiled. “Yes, that’s a very good idea. Why not put on some water.”

I filled the kettle and set it to boil, took some miso from the fridge and put a heaping teaspoon into each mug. “What did you have for lunch?”

“Oh, it was delicious,” she smiled. “A chicken wrap, loaded with big chunks of white meat, with mayo, herbal mustard, lettuce and generous slices of cheese. Plus, it was warmed up.”

The kettle began its aria. I poured hot water half way into the mugs, mashed the miso, and when it had dissolved, added dried seaweed. Then I filled the cups with more hot water. “Have anything else?”

She sighed contentedly. “Two cups of hot water with a slice of lemon.”

“Sounds like that chicken wrap would have been enough for both of us. I’m surprised you didn’t bring half back for me.”

“I thought of it; however, I didn’t know when I’d be eating next and as it turned out we were gone for quite a while.”

I glanced at the clock. It was after six-thirty. “So, tell me, what’s for supper?”

She closed the fridge. “I thought I’d make this new multi grain cereal I found at the health food store.” She showed me a rather plain lumpy package assured in big letters to be organic.

I opened it, looked inside, and handed it back. “Looks like the kind of gruel the Russians used to feed their prisoners in Siberia.”

She poured some into a pot and placed it on the stove. “Yes, it does, doesn’t it,” she smiled. she took a measuring cup and filled it three quarters with water. “And a good thing too. No doubt it kept them healthy and strong during those long ungodly frigid Russian winters.” She mingled the cereal and water and turned on the stove. “Supper will be ready in half an hour.”

“No doubt.” I said, glad that I still felt full from my king-sized lunch. “I’ll be at my computer,” I went on as I left the kitchen. “Send one of the guards to bring me to the dining area when it’s time for supper.”

About the author: A graduate of Emerson College, Stephen Halpert has been a published author since the 1970s. Most recently, his weekly column “American Scene,” which ran in The Grafton News from 1989 to 2022, featured humorous vignettes of his life with his wife, Tasha, and serial fiction.  In 2018, Halpert published his first collection of fictional tales, Abracadabra Moonshine and Other Stories, available on Amazon. His next writing venture is titled “Mona Lisa’s Eyebrows and other stories.” Contact Stephen to learn more.