Page 67 of For Butter or Worse
“These are VIP passes,” he said. “You can’t come in without ID.”
“Uh...” Nina said as she went through her purse. “I have credit cards. Would that work?”
He took a card from her. He looked at her name on it, then back at her. He leaned against the armrest of his chair and nodded.
“Nina Lyon. You’re that cooking lady, right? My moms think you’re hot.” He said it as if he was commenting on the weather.
“Oh, that’s...” Nina frowned. What was she supposed to say?
“I get it,” he added. Then licked his teeth.
“Oka-a-a-ay.” Jasmine grabbed the tickets from him. “Thank you for those.”
“Did he just call you old?” Sophie asked.
“I think he called you hot,” Jasmine said.
“Oh, and remember to stand five to ten feet away from the peacocks!” he called out to them.
“The peacocks?” Nina asked.
Jasmine nodded. “There are a lot of them on the grounds here. They’re pretty harmless. But, ya know, they are big birds.”
Nina gave Sophie a look, as if to say, “Why did I come with you again?”
But then they made their way through the entrance and into the gardens. The cool, breezy air snapped with electricity. They stood surrounded by enormous, dense trees that had gold-and-pink flowering pods at the tips of their branches. Nina reached up to touch a pod and felt the silky-smooth exterior between her fingers. Like rubbing a freshly shelled bean.
“That’s a Koelreuteria, commonly called the golden raintree. It’s native to Asia.” Jasmine shrugged. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
“How do you have so much brain space, and how do I make room for more in mine?” Nina asked. She touched a finger to Jasmine’s forehead and it was swatted away.
A loud squawking sound split the air. Then another, filling the space with piercing shrieks.
“What is that?” Sophie said. “A velociraptor? A rabid monkey?”
Jasmine shook her head. “Remember the ten-feet warning? The peacocks like to impress the peahens.”
“What is a peahen?” Nina asked. What kind of a name was that for anything?
“Peacocks are the male birds with those big plumes,” Jasmine explained. “Peahens are the females.”
“Why do the men get the pretty feathers?” Sophie asked.
“Like most things, I blame the patriarchy.” Jasmine smiled.
Nina guffawed, then held up her hand for a high five, which Jasmine gladly returned.
“Okay, Cory and Dori’s offices are right up there.” Jasmine pointed to two windows on the top floor of a khaki-colored building. “So they’ll be down any second.”
“We’ll be here if you need us,” Nina said.
“Great. I’ll text you when we’re done?”
“We’re not going to go too far, right?” Sophie asked as they walked off to give Jas some privacy. “Like, we can still eavesdrop and stuff?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Nina said. They found a nearby golden raintree with a trunk thick enough that they could hide behind, close enough that they could overhear Jasmine and her parents. They huddled together and waited to hear the family discussion unfold.
“Is this wrong? Should we leave them?” Sophie asked. She kicked at the fallen yellow pods that covered the ground.
