Small Miracles by Edward M. Lerner

Author:Edward M. Lerner [Lerner, Edward M.]
Language: eng, eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61242-233-6
Publisher: Phoenix Pick
Published: 2014-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

monday evening, january 9, 2017

Muttering instructions to herself and firmly rejecting all offers of help, Sladja Sanders bustled between her cramped kitchen and tiny dining room in a crescendo of pre-dinner activity. Her hair was dark, as were her eyes, complexion, and scowl—and the scowl, judging from her frown lines, was as permanent as the rest. The Sanders children, who had been fed earlier and sent to play in their room, kept appearing to tug for attention at her pant legs and apron; Sladja shooed them away loudly (and, when words did not propel them quickly enough, with a long-handled wooden spoon that aimed for, but never quite connected with, their knuckles). She looked Slavic and spoke with an accent.

Kim sat with Aaron at the dining-room table, the living room having been declared off-limits. Maybe her puzzlement showed, because Aaron whispered that on the Serbian Orthodox calendar Christmas had fallen just two days earlier. Kim concluded the living room was a wreck and entirely understood.

Sladja was not at all what Kim had expected, and she wondered why. The scowl, Kim finally decided. It was nearly impossible to reconcile Aaron’s whimsy with such severity. Talk about opposites attracting.

“Something smells delicious,” Kim called out the next time her hostess appeared. Kim got only a preoccupied nod in response.

Aaron chuckled. “At this stage of the meal, you’d never guess Sladja is a whiz at entertaining. I’ve come to accept that it’s her obsessing over the details that makes everything turn out so well.”

A cold, wet nose insinuated itself under a leg of Kim’s slacks. She leaned over and gave Bruce, a yellow Lab, a good head-scratching. He collapsed contentedly at her feet. “That’s a very good boy,” she told the dog. “Thanks for inviting me, Aaron.”

“My pleasure. We’d have asked you over sooner if you hadn’t gone out of town.” He grinned. “Maybe now Sladja will forgive the burnt grilled cheese on your first visit to her home.”

The invitation could not have come at a better time, and not only because Kim had had no opportunity to buy groceries. “I am so frustrated, Aaron. What you and Crystal showed me this afternoon seems ironclad. Why hasn’t the FDA been notified yet?”

“Later,” was all Aaron managed as Sladja bustled back—this time, finally, to stay—bearing a platter heaped with something breaded and rolled.

Pork, by the smell of it. It was Somebody Steak and Kim had never heard of Prince Somebody, but after one bite she took an instant liking to the man. The meat was indeed pork, wrapped around not-quite cream cheese, breaded and fried, and then garnished with tartar sauce. Sladja smiled at Kim’s attempt to pronounce the name of the dish. An inspired, put-on second try with Kim’s broadest Southern accent got an actual friendly laugh. There were also roasted potatoes, a red-pepper-and-eggplant salad, and a circular loaf of bread fresh from the oven.

“This is delicious,” Kim said. “Everything is. Sladja, you are a marvel.”

“You haven’t yet had everything,” Sladja corrected, smiling. “Save room for dessert.

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