Bertha
Botts loved hearing from Aggie Crane. Aggie had called earlier
in the day and when she told Bertha of the wonderful ideas she
had for their annual dinner, Bertha could hardly contain herself.
“Where did you get everything?” Bertha asked excitedly.
“It seem it’s becoming more difficult each year.”
“It isn’t easy,” Aggie cooed.
“Oh, I know darling,” said Bertha. “And you
are so deserving of the praise they’ll heap upon you, just
as they did last year.”
In her excitement, Aggie went on to relate how she made many visits
to the local library and she was able to discover the nearby location
of great patches of weed, which can be used for the salads. Actually,
not a weed but a parasitic growth usually found on the roots of
corn or maize. Many years ago, it was ascertained to have derived
from the snapdragon family.
“Ooh,” Bertha almost blacked out in anticipation.
“I can taste it now.”
Aggie went on with her plan to serve a soup like no other. The
soup bone to be used would be from the carcass of a bull elephant
and amongst the additional mouth-watering ingredients would be
diced tongues, eyeballs and testicles from various animals.
She paused then for a few moments to allow Bertha to compose herself,
for it was obvious even over the phone that she was having an
experience.
“Exactly,” Aggie laughed. “You have to get here
as soon as possible, so we can start our preparations. Please,
Bertha. Please.”
“I’ll leave at dusk and we can start the instant I
get there.
“You are always so willing to give your all. Please hurry.”
****
Aggie
was waiting for Bertha when she landed and hugged her tightly.
With a radiant smile, she appeared to be in the finest of moods.
She wore an ankle length dress of dark blue silk, a scarf around
her neck of a lighter shade and her pumps were a matching suede.
“My,” Bertha said with a grin, “but aren’t
you the showcase?”
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