Dish 5

"Come on, time for food! Time to eat, everyone! Go wash your hands," Mrs. Y calls suddenly.


 The thought of food interrupts my outrage at Susannah's revelation. I run to the nearest bathroom, completely violate my cafeteria hand washing code and hurry over to the kitchen. The table is set with a large round plate and steaming pots of veggies, rice and spicy meat stew- the traditional cuisine of Ethiopia. My favorite thing has got to be the bread called injera. It's hard to describe exactly what it is--spongy, sour, pancake-y. All I know is it's incredible and one of the few things that won't burn my tongue off.


"Always the first one at the table, Zachariah," Mrs. Y says, smiling.


I shrug and pick the seat where everything is within arm's length. The Ethiopian tradition involves everyone gathering around the plate and sharing the food. I'm very territorial, so my side of the plate disappears pretty quick.


"Adem, turn of the TV and eat!" 


"Mom, I'm coming, there's only 3 minutes left in the game!" Adem shouts back
.
Mrs. Y sighs. "And where is that girl?"


"Probably looking googly eyed at your son," I mutter under my breath.


"What's that?" Mrs. Y says.


"Uh, she's coming, I'm sure," I say, putting a napkin on my lap. I picked up the sad habit from my grandpa. He always has clean pants and I looked up to that as a kid. I'm surprised I haven't knocked  out my teeth and stuck in dentures too.
Susannah slides into the chair next to me and Adem sits down across from us.


"Everything looks so good, " Susannah says, eyeing the steaming pots.


"And it's all homemade," Adem says, spooning some yellow rice onto the injera plate.


I smile. "This one's the best, Susannah. You have to try some." I point to a small dish of dark red sauce. It's a special mixture of spices called berbere that I think would make any grown man cry in pain.
 I lean over and whisper, "Adem loves it."


Mrs. Y joins us at the table.
"I want you all to eat up, no skimping on me. You have to finish your plates.


Susannah bites her lip.
"Sure, I'll have some of that thing. And some carrots, please"


"Great!" I say, dropping some berbere next to the carrots on the injera. "If you wanna  be one of the guys, then you gotta eat like one of the guys." 


I try hard to keep a straight face. It's a lot harder than you think. I'm physically able to lie no more than three times a day without giving myself away. I'm really not fit to be evil.

Adem shrugs and spoons some of the berbere sauce onto Susannah's side of the plate.  Mrs. Y. and I pick our various vegetables and meat stews and place them in artful circles on top of the injera. My stomach growls again, so I cough to play it down.

"Everyone eat!" Mrs. Y pats me on the back. We all dig in, tearing the pieces of the injera and folding it together with our thumb and forefingers. Half the fun of eating Ethiopian food is getting your hands messy. It's more satisfying than eating hotwings. I decide I want some of the lamb stew, and scoop it up, savoring the ginger flavor in my mouth. Susannah hesitates, carefully tugging the injera like it's a piece of paper.

"It doesn't have to be perfect. Just tear it like this." Adem shows her.

Susannah giggles.

"Okay okay!" She tears the injera and scoops up a ridiculous amount of the berbere sauce. 

Susannah opens and swallows. I'm smiling like the old witch when she gives Snow White the poisoned apple. Mrs. Y quietly chews her food, her fingers curled around some injera with beans. Adem's head is turned around, craning to see the TV.

"Ohmigod." Susannah coughs. "This is really really hot." She fans herself, sticks her tongue out and starts breathing hard.

I look at her as casually as possible.

"Isn't it delicious?"

She coughs and stares at me incredulously.

"I wouldn't know since I think I burned off my tastebuds!"

Mrs. Y frowns.

" What is it? Which one did you eat?"

Susannah exhales and points a shaking finger at the dark red berbere sauce.

"This one! Ohmigod, ohmigod, can I have some water?"

Adem spins around.

"Did you see that one?" He sees Susannah's face reddening. 

"Whoa, what's wrong?" 

"Water!" Susannah squeals.

I wipe my mouth.

"Actually, water doesn't do anything for spice. You should have milk or bread. Eat some more injera."

"I'll get some milk for you, hold on, " Adem stands up and runs to the fridge. He brings back a carton of milk and fills up a glass for Susannah.

She gulps it down faster than I thought humanely possible. Did she even swallow?

Adem sits down again, his face distressed.

"Why the hell would you eat that? Do you know how incredibly hot berbere is?  I can't even handle it, and I mix it with yogurt. That's some guts, right there."

"You mean you don't love bebe-this spicy stuff?" Susannah asks, setting down the glass.

Mrs. Y laughs.

"This one is a baby. I always tell Adem to eat berbere, but he refuses. It's good for the sinuses, you know? It will burn now, but you'll feel better later. Everything just flushes." She squeezes her nose.

 "Well that's good news, 'cause cold season is coming up." I eat another fistful, this time chicken and peas. I can feel Susannah's glare emanating towards me, but I happily munch along.

We eat in silence, except for the cheering sounds of the TV and then Adem's groaning when the game's over. We finish and head back over to the living room.

"Alright, next up study session," Adem says, clapping his hands together.

Susannah tosses her head.

"Actually, I'm a little tired. I think it's better I head back."

"Aw, are you sure? Still feeling the berbere?" I say innocently as I prop my feet up on the couch.

She puts on a fake grin.

"No, I actually have some things I forgot to take care. New school stuff and all. We'll have to do this some other time"

"Oh, want me to give you ride?" Adem offers. " I feel really bad about what happened, Susannah."

"That would be wonderful! I think I'd get lost on my own!" Susannah says, beaming.

"Yeah, just give me your address and I'll put it in my GPS," he says.

"Hey,what about me?" I say, waving my hands. What are they thinking leaving me here? My plan was for her to leave us alone.

"Dude, you live like five minutes away. You can walk," Adem says, grabbing his shoes.

"Can I sit in the front this time?" Susannah says, nudging Adem.

"Sure," he says with a laugh.

"You can stay and chill if you want to, Zac. I'll take her and be back before you know it. See ya." He opens the door for Susannah.

"Bye now!" she chirps, putting her messenger bag around her shoulder.

I roll my eyes as they walk out together. God, I hope I'm not that annoying around Katie. It may look like I've lost this one, but Operation Save-Adem-from-the-Scary-Hyper-Flirty-Fake-Girl-that-I'm-So-Not-Cool-With is just getting started.