Donald asked Nancy if she could come to his room to talk. Nancy arrived with a tray of sweet rolls and coffee and Donald took it from her, placing it on his dresser/desk. “Thanks for coming promptly, Nancy and thanks for the snacks,” he said.
“No problem, Donald. It’s a nice break from the kitchen,” Nancy answered.
“How are things going in the kitchen, training May?” Donald asked.
“I actually don’t know who is training who, Donald! I have learned so many new things from her. Asian cooking is not just about taste, but also actively includes herbal medicine,” Nancy explained
“Do you think an 80 year old woman will be able to stand up to the pressures of cooking for so many?” he asked.
Nancy said, “oh, don’t worry. She has the art of delegation down pat. She is not at all afraid to ask for help. Just keep her surrounded with hard-working helpers and she will do great, Donald. You picked a winner!”
Meanwhile, Max had carefully lifted Karen out of the sled and put her on the newly shoveled snow. “Can I take off the blindfold now, dear?” she asked.
“Just a few more steps. Step up here and now it is the last step.” They entered a warm building.
Karen was dying to see what was going on when Max untied her blindfold and watched her face. A look of delight took over her face as she blinked. “Oh, it’s lovely!” she emoted. She looked around the cozy little restaurant with twinkly lights everywhere; around the pillar in the middle of the floor, around every inch of the ceiling and around the large plate glass windows. There was a gorgeous aroma of roses, with a dozen roses on their table. “You took me out to dinner for Valentine’s Day!” Karen said, with tears in her eyes.
Max’s smile that took over his face said it all! Karen’s happiness fueled his own.
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Back at the lodge, Donald asked Nancy, “Well, it sounds like your department is covered. What do you think about how the rest of the lodge is running and will run after so many of you are gone? You are around the house much more than me.”
Nancy looked thoughtful. “I have a funny story to tell you. Since your brother, Carl moved up here, he has been taking care of the quail in the main room. They have settled in and thrived and you probably noticed Carl has built two other large aviaries for them in the front room. Well, he is meticulous in gathering the eggs and rotating out the older birds for harvesting. The other day he let May know he would be sending 30 birds to the outdoor hut to harvest for supper. That was figured into the meal for that night and then I watched May become agitated after the little quail were put on to cook and I asked her what was wrong. She said, “When are they bringing in the feet?”
I thought I heard her wrong because her English isn’t so good so I asked her again and she repeated what she had said before. “You know, the feet of the birds. Let’s go get them ourselves.”
She got all bundled up and I followed her out to the shed. May asked Clarence who was working on tanning hides, “Where is it?”
Clarence looked up at May all puzzled and asked, “Excuse me ma’am, are you missing something?”
May said, “We got the birds; where are the feet?”
Clarence started laughing. “You want the feet of the birds?”
May said, “I want the birds’ feet. They make good soup. Where are they?”
Clarence tried to keep a straight face. “I’m sorry ma’am. We fed them to the sled dogs.”
May’s face fell and she started talking angrily in Chinese. I’m pretty sure she was cussing.
“You save all bird’s feet for me, ok?”
Clarence meekly said, “ok.” Having taken care of business, May returned to the kitchen.
Nancy said, “The communications seem to be going well with one exception. Pete, who won the poker game on the ship (I’m sure you’ve heard of him) and Max are at odds with each other about the woodpile.”
“What?”
“Oh, it’s just some silly thing about how it is stacked.”
“Well, if that is the worst we have to deal with, we will be fine, “ Donald said and they got back to work.
