“Because if Cassidy thought the zombies might outrun her, she would knock you down. The same goes for bears, wolves, or vampires,” I predicted.
“Unless they were cute vampires,” Brook said.
We all agreed that Cassidy might make the sacrifice for cute vampires. Sarah was up.
“Most likely to say something douchey …”
This was a close call. Yuri was a male chauvinist when I met him, and my brother Phil was a dork. I picked Phil. The vote was split almost down the middle until the two girlfriends voted. Both Jan and Jill picked my brother.
“You both suck,” he said, confirming the group’s opinion. “Most likely to become president …”
I thought I had that one in the bag. Nope, they all picked my girlfriend.
“Why Brook?” I asked. “Not that I think she wouldn’t make a great president.”
She rolled her eyes at me.
“I hate to tell you this,” Tami started and then did just that. “Having four children by three different women; your run-in with the feminazis, even though it wasn’t your fault; the blow-up around Pam’s pregnancy and the rape accusations … do I need to go on? All that would be used against you in a campaign.”
“Dude, you might want to stick to sports or movies,” Tim said.
“Yeah, it’s sort of expected for those kinds of careers,” Wolf added.
Sometimes, the truth hurts. If my closest friends thought that, what would someone who didn’t know me think? In the current political environment, I was sure I would be an easy target. I was glad when Duke came up to me and nudged my arm to tell me he wanted to go outside.
“Most likely to have a secret identity …” Brook asked as I walked out the door.
◊◊◊
Duke loved the woods around Tracy’s place. He took me for a walk while I ruminated on what my friends had said. I felt bad for ruining my grandma’s plans for me. Not that I wanted to run for president someday; it just felt like I’d let people down. I pushed those feelings aside and just enjoyed being outdoors with my trusty hound.
It was a beautiful fall day. All the trees were in full color. For me, the most enjoyable part was watching Duke bound through the woods and then come running back to check on me. The entertainment he provided put a smile on my face. Everyone has heard the saying that dogs are ‘man’s best friend.’ I think what makes him special is the unconditional love Duke provides. He doesn’t care if I’ve had a bad day or done something wrong. He’s always happy to see me. I felt better when Duke was around.
When we came back to the house, Tracy came outside.
“You okay?” she asked.
I gave her a curious look.
“Why do you ask?”
“I could tell that what they said hurt your feelings. It was kind of a cheap shot.”
I just shrugged.
“Sometimes, you need people to be honest with you, even when it’s something you don’t want to hear. I’m glad they feel comfortable enough to say stuff like that.”
Tracy gave me a sideways look.
“I can tell you’re trying to put a positive spin on it. It was a surprise to me when they took events that had been out of your control and used them like that.”
I gave her a hug. Tracy really was my best friend. It seemed improbable that we would be such good friends after the stuff she put me through. There had always been a connection, and once we figured out we were better as friends than more, it all seemed to work out. Tracy was the one person who never wanted any more from me than friendship. With my crazy life, that was more important than I had realized. I never had to be anything but myself when I was with her.
I sighed.
“It did bother me a little. But it isn’t anything I haven’t been saying to myself, though. I can’t fault them for being honest.”
“I know. Anyway, I’d vote for you,” Tracy said, and her face lit up. “Come in and cook for us. I understand that you’ve planned something special.”
“Your mom isn’t very good at keeping secrets.”
“No, she is, but she told me you needed time to prepare everything.”
I looked at my watch. Tracy was right, it would take me a few hours to pull it all off. Mary, Tracy’s mom, was one of my partners in the restaurants and in charge of cooking. Her father was a chef and restaurant owner. Mary had taken the time to teach me to cook.
She’d wanted to bring sous vide cooking to the restaurant. It was one of her father’s cooking techniques. Sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) means ‘under vacuum’ in French. It refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to an exact temperature in a water bath. The precise temperature control delivered consistent, high-quality results when cooking steaks.
Mary had shown me videos of how it was done and the results. Two things about it impressed me. The first was that it cooked a steak evenly. Instead of the meat being charred on the outside and pink in the center, it was pink all the way through. The second was that a traditionally cooked steak can lose up to forty percent of its volume during the cooking process. That didn’t happen when it was prepared this way.
