Lucky Few by Kathryn Ormsbee

Author:Kathryn Ormsbee [Ormsbee, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Twelve

Max sat in an armchair as Sanger unwrapped a single pepper from a produce bag. It was called a ghost pepper. It was bright red and shriveled and the length of Sanger’s index finger. She held it by the stem, presenting it to Max with great pomp and circumstance.

“The ghost pepper,” she announced, “is one of the hottest peppers in the world. Technically, the Guinness Book of World Records says the Carolina Reaper is the hottest, but I couldn’t find one of those. Anyway, the ghost pepper possesses a Scoville rating of over one million.”

“That number means absolutely nothing to me,” said Max.

“I think,” I said, “it means you’re going to be in a lot of pain. Probably go red in the face. Writhe around. It’ll resemble an allergic reaction.”

“But it’s not an allergic reaction,” said Max. “It’s just a stress response to your body’s pain reactors going berserk. Or something.”

“Thank you, Bill Nye,” Sanger said. “I’m aware that it’s not actually an allergic reaction. But what else are we supposed to do when you don’t have any allergies?”

“No known allergies,” said Max.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have a lifetime to figure out if you’re allergic to a rare herb,” said Sanger. “We just have until the first of June. Capisce?”

Max shrugged. “Capisce.”

I winced. The first of June. I knew that was our deadline. I’d known for a while. But the words had a different flavor to them now that they weren’t just an end date for Max’s list. Now the first of June was the day life as I knew it ended. The day Sanger moved away. And it seemed so much sooner now than it had when we’d made that poster board schedule in Sanger’s bedroom.

“Okay,” said Sanger, oblivious to my internal discomfort. “Stevie will record a video and take the photograph of your untimely demise. I will be on hand with milk and bread.”

She pointed to the coffee table, where a pint container of milk and half a baguette sat at the ready.

“Have people done this before?” Max asked.

“Of course they have,” said Sanger. “How do you think anyone found out its Scoville rating?”

Max reached for the pepper. “Okay. Give it.”

“Just remember,” Sanger warned, “don’t touch your eyes or anything afterward. Stevie, ready?”

I started the video-recording on Max’s phone.

“Ready.”

Max stuck the whole pepper in his mouth, bit it clean off the stem, and chewed. Sanger and I stood transfixed. I could tell Max was trying to tough it out. He grinned a lippy smile at us both, chewing all the while. But then he swallowed, and the smile faded into a look of intense concentration.

Max’s face didn’t turn red, like I had predicted. He didn’t scream or hop around or fan his mouth, saying “hot-hot-hot.” He just looked monumentally uncomfortable. He gripped his fingers hard into the armrests of the leather chair. Tears began to leak from his eyes.

I stopped the video. It didn’t really look like Max was having an allergic reaction, just more like he’d eaten a pepper with a Scoville rating of one million.

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