Enough with the Chicken Soup!
The crew of the Lunestra has been laid low by a terrible bout of Knockdown-Dragout-itus! But while most recovered within the first week, the captain herself has been laid up these three months bemoaning her misfortune from the isolation of her personal quarters. The crew, not wanting to disturb her recuperation, have enjoyed the peace and quiet that comes with not having her persistent and noisome presence constantly peering over their shoulders.
But today, as she brings the captain her meal, the first mate notices the door is cracked open...
The first mate pauses on the threshold, the steam wafting up from the bowl of piping hot soup clouding the dim interior of the captainâs quarters. Vague shapes of furniture and abandoned laundry hunker in the unlit room, giving the first mate a faint feeling of unease.
âCaptain?â she calls softly into the dark. âAre you awake?â
She lays her free hand against the door and pushes it open wide enough to step through. If the captain is on the bed, she canât tell her apart from the bundles of old clothes and kicked bed sheets. âI have some dinner if youâre actually feeling hungry today.â
Something moves on the bed, and the first mate ducks in time to avoid the empty box of tissues as it collides with the door behind her.
"So...not hungry?" she asks from her crouch near the floor.
"I'm starving!" the captain rasps. "But I will not eat one more spoonful of that wretched concoction."
The first mate waits another moment to make sure her leader is out of ammunition before rising to her feet, carefully balancing the food tray. The chicken soup threatens to swish over the rim of the bowl. "But it's good for you. And you've lost so much weight, you need to eat something."
"Fine! Anything!" An incriminating finger points at the bowl on the tray. "But enough with the chicken soup! Give me tacos. I miss tacos! And gingersnap cookies. No, better! Gingersnap cookie tacos with brownies and dollops of whipped cream!"
The first mate rolls her eyes. "We're fresh out," she says. "How about oatmeal? I'm pretty sure you can still eat oatmeal."
She feels the captain's eyes on her like pinprick headlights in the dark. "With the little gold raisins in it?"
"Of course." It would be impossible to hide her medication in it otherwise.
The vague outline of the captain hunkers down further in the bed and a surly, "Fine," reaches the first mate's ears. "I'll eat the stupid oatmeal. But there had better be those tacos for dessert."
The first mate resists the urge to shake her head as she lifts the tray. "What should I do with this then, if you won't eat it?"
"Drown the potted plants with it!"
The first mate manages to keep from rolling her eyes until the door is safely closed behind her and returns to the kitchens with a sigh.
***
Word travels from wingtip to wingtip to be on the look out for flying tissue boxes and a sudden collection of gingersnap cookie taco recipes appears under Cook's door overnight. The ones that appear after dinner the following night even have little gold raisins on top.
"They actually look good, Cook," the first mate says as she inspects the strange dessert in the kitchen. "You really are gifted, did you know that?"
Cook wrings his hands nervously in his food stained apron. "I'm glad you tink so, First'un, cause it took me more time than I t'ought it would. I had to serve leftovers fer da meal."
The first mate frowns, wrinkles marring her forehead. The hand wringing, the nervous sweat at his temple... "What leftovers?" she asks carefully, distress already gnawing at her stomach. The door to the kitchen swings open and several servers scurry through ahead of the voice thundering through the commissary.
"That had better not be chicken soup!"
Will the captain ever eat anything but chicken soup ever again? Will the rest of the Lunestra's crew survive her illness? What do gingersnap cookie tacos taste like? We don't know either!
But we do know that New Prints are coming despite the terrible terror that is Knockdown-Dragout-itus weâre still fighting off. Return soon to see them for yourself!
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