Ice Chest

When Marlin Glenn lifted the lid, the intense odor of smoked meat escaped from the empty red ice chest.

“You didn’t air this out, Nancy,” he barked. “Everything we put in it’s gonna reek.”

Nancy’s mouth opened, then closed. She tightly balled her right fist, then slowly unclenched each finger as if counting, beginning with her index finger. When all five fingers of her right hand extended, she spoke.

“Don’t  blame me! Who’s the one who decided the brisket needed to ‘rest’ in the Igloo in the first place? And since when am I responsible for cleaning it up? You’re the only one who ever uses it. I’ve got enough to do to get the smell out of your clothes after you spend a day tending your smoker.”

Marlin, a fireplug of a man four inches shorter than his slender wife, cocked his head and shifted from one foot to the other.

“Well, what are we gonna do for the trip? We can’t have everything we take smell like brisket. We don’t have time to soak up the odor with baking soda.”

“How ’bout you just run buy a new one at Academy? It’ll take you an hour, at most. We can call them and tell them we’re getting a later than expected start. Okay?”

“All right. I’ll go get a new one. Will you call them?”

“Yeah.”

As Marlin gathered his billfold and keys, Nancy picked up the phone and punched in the numbers.

“Bhini? It’s Nancy. Marlin and I are running a little behind schedule, but we should be there before noon. I just wanted to let you know.”

Marlin stood and listened to Nancy’s side of the conversation.

“Oh, really? Well, then, I guess it’s just as well we’re getting a late start, then.”

Marlin mouthed “What’s going on?” to Nancy, but she ignored him.

“Oh, so, will Deepak have to spend the whole weekend at the hospital?”

Nancy glanced at Marlin and shrugged her shoulders.

“No, no, we understand. We’ll just come on and play it by ear. Tell Deepak not to worry about abandoning us! He’s gotta do what he’s gotta do; we know that.”

Nancy looked at Marlin’s puzzled face and mouthed “he’s got to work.”

“Okay, then. We’ll see you in a few hours. We’re bringing an ice chest full of veggies from our garden! Bye, now.”

She ended the call and turned to Marlin.

“Deepak was supposed to be off this weekend, but a doctor scheduled for the ER was in an accident, so Deepak has to fill in, at least for a while. He might be able to get someone else to cover for him later, but until then, he has to be at the hospital.”

Bhindi Sharma and Nancy Catron became friends long before they met Deepak Patil and Marlin Glenn, who would become their respective husbands. Their marriages changed the two women in odd ways. Bhindi, a committed omnivore, became a vegetarian while Nancy, a devout vegetarian, acquiesced to her husband’s love of meat.

[And that’s as much as I feel like writing for the moment. This was mostly for dialog and to introduce unexpected relationships.]

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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