Page 51 of Slew Foot
Mickey ended up with banana pudding and Rafe got a mini pecan pie. Mickey took two bites of the pudding and set it down.
“You don’t like it?” Rafe asked with a frown.
“I don’t think it’s for me,” he said, trying to be polite.
“Want some of my pecan pie?” Rafe held it out.
“No, that’s okay. I’ve had that before and it’s very sweet. I just don’t have very sweet teeth,” Mickey said.
Rafe looked confused for a moment. “Oh, a sweet tooth? I think it’s only one tooth. Not all of them.”
“Yes,” Mickey said. “Sweet tooth.”
Although, privately he thought multiple tooths—teeth—made more sense. People didn’t eat with one tooth. Unless they were Crawford.
“There aren’tanydesserts you like?” Rafe seemed almost horrified by this.
“I like my grandma’s Zwetschgenkuchen,” Mickey said with a shrug.
“Her what now?”
Mickey repeated it more slowly.
Rafe’s face went blank for a moment before he tried it. It came out garbled, but he was clearly trying so Mickey said it again. And again.
“Zuh-vech-guhn-koo-hen?” Rafe finally said.
“Pretty close,” Mickey said with a smile.
“Cool. Neat name.” Rafe smiled back. “What is it?”
“Oh. Plum cake. It’s a very simple cake with fresh plums on top.”
Mickey wasn’t about to get into the whole debate of yeasted dough versus a shortcrust pastry versus cake batter for the base and whether or not it was best with streusel on top or no. Mickey was firmly in the yeasted dough and no streusel topping camp, because that was the way his grandmother had made it, but these debates could get rather heated.
“That sounds nice,” Rafe said.
“It is.”
The cake wasn’t overly sweet, and Mickey remembered being very young and going to his grandmother’s house after hockey practice, his stomach gnawing a hole at his insides, and opening the door to the smell of the cake.
Vanilla and fruit and a little bit of cinnamon.
She’d fed him coarse rye bread, cold cuts or sausage, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and cut-up vegetables first, and it had all tasted delicious, but he’d always hurried through it, eager to get to the cake.
“You sure you don’t want any pie now?” Rafe asked and he looked so hopeful Mickey couldn’t tell him no.
He took a bite of the pie—yes, still much too sweet—and thanked him. Rafe polished off the rest of the small tin, then got to work on Mickey’s pudding.
Tanner had gone for the peach cobbler, which had also looked like it might be too sweet, but Mickey was somewhat regretting he hadn’t tried it.
After everyone finished their desserts, they settled down and finally turned on the movie. Anker Henriksen and Ben Estrada got up so Connor and Jesse—along with Graham—could take the other bed.
Captain’s prerogative, Mickey guessed.
Connor settled against the headboard and Jesse looked faintly amused but didn’t argue, just shifting onto his side and curlingup with his head on Connor’s shoulder while Graham stretched out beside them.
But then Anker settled in on the far side of Rafe and there werefourpeople intheirbed. It was a big bed but with Mickey, Tanner, Rafe, and now Anker, there wasn’t a lot of room.
