Dead Possums Are Fair Game by Taryn Souders

Author:Taryn Souders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2014-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MEATLOAF

meat·loaf

noun \meet-lohf\

—ground meat molded into a loaf pan and baked; often topped with brown sugar and ketchup

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, rain poured throughout the afternoon, which must have prompted Mom and Dad to decide to start a weekly meatloaf night. Sundays were the unlucky chosen night. Because of the rain, Chewy was allowed to come inside early. He made himself comfortable under the table and fell asleep. Since he wasn’t disturbing anyone, Dad let him stay there when we sat down for dinner.

A ketchup-covered, grayish-brown slab of meatloaf the size of Texas was plopped onto my plate, along with some mac and cheese and green beans. I felt a nudge against my leg.

I looked down.

Chewy looked up.

His eyes begged for meaty goodness. I thought of telling him that meaty goodness did not exist at the table that night, but then I had a brilliant idea.

I scanned the table as I stabbed a piece of meatloaf with my fork. When no one was looking, I plucked it off and gave it to Chewy. He licked my fingers clean. No one noticed. I cut off two more pieces, each a little bigger. I quickly slid them one at a time under the table. They disappeared in seconds. My plan was working. The meatloaf was now about the size of Arkansas, but I knew Mom and Dad would get suspicious if they saw it was disappearing faster than usual. I pushed some green beans around my plate for a while and took a couple bites of mac and cheese.

I glanced over at Aunt Willa. Most of her meatloaf was gone already! Apparently she really missed it while in Africa. She seemed tired, too. I lost track of the number of times she dropped her napkin and reached down to pick it up.

I stuffed in a couple more mouthfuls of mac and cheese. Half the meatloaf was still on my plate. I figured Chewy could handle what was left in a single swallow. The question was how to get such a large bite to him without being caught. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I knocked my water glass over, sending a pool of liquid across the table toward Mom.

“Oops!” I grabbed my glass and stood it upright.

“It’s okay. I’ll grab a towel.” Mom pushed her chair back and went to the kitchen. Dad mopped up water as best he could with his napkin. I looked at Aunt Willa. She dropped her napkin again. Poor thing.

I quickly grabbed the remaining chunk of meatloaf and shoved it under the table. With a slurp and a lick, it was gone. Chewy’s soft tongue cleaned every drop of ketchupy sauce off my hand.

Mom came back from the kitchen with the towel.

“Thanks, Mom. I guess I’m not used to this cast yet.” I took the towel from her and cleaned up the remaining water. “I’m going to grab something to drink.”

Aunt Willa pushed back her chair. “I’ll come with you. I need some more, too.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.