Chapter 3

~Cooking for Mrs. Zellman~

I waited for mom to park the car at Mrs. Zellman's house and gave her a quick hug goodbye before I gathered my supplies and stepped out of the Nisan truck. I walked up to the door with my arms full of groceries and knocked on the door, watching as my mom drove away. The door opened and I looked up to meet the gaze of Mrs. Zellman. She was a foot taller than me, dressed in a business pant suit top and a pencil skirt bottom.

"Evening Mrs. Zellman." I greeted and Mrs. Zellman almost smiled at me.

"Letti Browning." She greeted and stepped aside to let me in. "Just through there to the kitchen." She directed, shutting the door behind me and I walked past two exceptionally large and expensive looking glass doors and into a grand kitchen.

The kitchen was spacious, all white and grey. The walls were painted a pale shade of cool grey and her cabinets were white with glass windows. Her counter tops were white marble and there was a white tile backsplash that framed the counters.

"You can use anything we have. I cannot tell you ow much I appreciate this." Mrs. Zellman smiled stiffly as I gently set the groceries on the table and checked the time. It was five thirty, perfect.

"I am glad you thought of me, Mrs. Zellman." I smiled up at her. I had met Mrs. Zellman before and knew Jacob a little, but I wasn't remarkably close to either of them.

"After your mother brought those fillet mignons to our cider party, I just had to give you the chance cook something for my Jacob." She spoke. I was not used to having Mrs. Zellman – of all people – praise me. It was nice – almost unnerving –. "Everything is gluten free, dairy fee, sugar free..." She listed off and I nodded along with her.

"Everything is certified non-GMO, free range, etc." I said taking thing from out of the plastic bags and showing her the certification stickers. "Dinner should be done in an hour. Is that alright?"

Mrs. Zellman nodded approvingly before she abruptly clasped her hands together and declared, "I need to get ready. Please, use anything we have." She added, sweeping an arm elegantly about the kitchen. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that her kitchen was the largest one, I'd been in yet. It was massive, spotless, and white, so very white.

"Of course." I smiled.

"Your mother was going as a..." Mrs. Zellman trailed off, twiddling her fingers as she tried to remember my mother's costume for her party. I knew for a fact that she never actually asked my mother, but she had told plenty of people that she was going as the ice queen.

"A rag-doll." I answered with a smile. Mom and I had made our costumes every year, and this year we had repurposed an old dress from last year when she went as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, and an apron. Mom had even braided her hair in pigtails and drawn a patch on her nose with face paint.

Mrs. Zellman nodded, looking relieved almost and turned to leave without another word. The click of her heals echoed throughout the house and I breathed a sigh of relief. I wondered what I'd do when I got home. Maybe I'd take Marv on a walk, check out all the costumes, or maybe even stay home and watch my favorite movie, Lord of the Rings.

As I took out a cookie sheet from a cabinet beside the oven, I began to reminisce over my last Halloween. Last year I had spent the day with my friends, Elis, and Robin, but Robin was in high school now, so she was getting ready for a party, and Elis had moved to Maine in December last year, but facetime was a common pastime.

I laid a sheet of parchment paper over the pan and began to cook the chicken atop the stove in a skillet with salt and pepper. In a bowl I tossed tomatoes with a handful of spices and a bit of basil, and I measured out two table spoons of honey and a fourth a cup of balsamic vinegar.

"Hello." I jumped a little as a small voice came from behind me and I turned, looking down to meet my addresser. Jacob Zellman was dark haired, wide eyed and timidly looking up at me.

"Hi, it's nice to see you Jacob." I grinned and offered my hand to him, he shook it and peered around me at the stove. He was probably wondering what I was making; any child would be curious. "Don't worry." I winked and pointed over my shoulder with my thumb. "It's rather good. I make this all the time at my house." I assured him and, picked up the skillet and carried it to the kitchen island where I used a fork to transfer the chicken from the skillet to the parchment paper sheet.

"What is it?" Jacob asked, interest peaked.

"Bruschetta chicken." I added and opened the pack of soy mozzarella cheese, and a knife, slicing pieces about a third of an inch thick and laying them over top the chicken and added a pit of pink sea salt over top. Jacob watched as I sprinkled the salt over the chicken and I smiled, offering him a small slice of cheese to tase.

Jacob looked up at me skeptically, and took the piece of cheese, looking it over. To prove that it was good, I sliced a bit off myself and took a bite. It tasted like mozzarella, but with a stronger aftertaste. It wasn't bad.

"Thoughts?" I asked and Jacob nodded, taking another bite.

"Pretty good." He smiled a little and I nodded proudly.

Jacob helped me lay the cheese overtop the chicken and I spooned the tomato topping over the cheese, adding a sprig of basil overtop. The oven beeped – signaling the preheat – and I bent down to place the tray in the oven and put the timer on for fifteen minutes. I thickened the sauce on the stove top and Jacob sat on a barstool at the island.

"You're the lady with the dog, right?" Jacob asked and I nodded; eyes never leaving the balsamic sauce as it bubbled in the small saucepan.

"That's right." I confirmed and looked over my shoulder at him. "His name is Marv. I think you'd like him." I added. Jacob shrugged.

"I can't have a dog. Mom says I'm allergic." He informed me and I smiled a little wider.

"You can play with mine; he's hypoallergenic, meaning he's safe for people who are allergic." I said with a wink. Jacob perked up and grinned.

The sound of heals started echoing around the kitchen a few moments before Mrs. Zellman walked into the kitchen. She was dress in an elegant white dress with a silvery blue dusting of glitter across the frothy folds of white tulle. Her red hair was done up behind a crown of glass icicles, and she had white makeup that spread out across her cheeks and eyes – which were shadowed with a frosty blue –.

"That looks amazing." I appraised and she preened like a peacock.

"And that smells amazing." She added. The house smelled like fresh tomatoes, basil, and chicken with a hint of honied balsamic vinegar wafting up from the stove.

"Brussel sprouts are in the oven, cooking in olive oil, salt, garlic, and pepper." I said and looked over at Jacob who looked a little nervous at the mention of the fabled veggie of dread. "They are really good." I assured him, and he looked up at me curiously. He trusted my soy cheese judgment and figured that I wouldn't lie about the Brussel sprouts.

"Perfect." Mrs. Zellman smiled in a perfectly practiced fashion and I nodded happily.

There was a knock on the front door and Mrs. Zellman clasped her hands and walked briskly towards the door. Jacob jumped off the stool and bolted from the table, eyes wide and disappeared down the hall. I took the opportunity to pick up my purse and pop a bottle open and gulp down a single white pill.

I swallowed it dry and briskly shoved the orange bottle down to the bottom of my purse as I heard Mrs. Zellman's heals tapping against the tile in the entry hall just outside. "Kelly." She snapped.

"No ice cream, no gluten, no caffeine, no dairy, no peanuts, no more than 30 minuets of screen time?" a new voice listed off disbelievingly. I assumed this was Kelly.

"You have a stopwatch on your cell phone, right?" Mrs. Zellman asked, and I saw her silhouette pass by the large glass doors. "Since it is Halloween; Jacob may have three pieces of candy." Mrs. Zellman added, interrupting the stutter.

"Oh! I've got some." Kelly started.

"No, no, no, no. Raisins, dried apple chips, or puffed rice cakes." She said and there was jangle, either from the crystal decorations on Mrs. Zellman's costume, or something the sitter was wearing. "Also, no running, no shouting, no discussing global tragedies or current events." She continued. Who talked about global tragedies with six-year-olds?

"Got it."

"Emergency contact numbers. Poison control, his doctor, his dentist. And his sleep time checklist. Learn it." She informed Kelly strictly. And stepped into the doorway across from where I stood at the stove, stirring my sauce.

"It takes three hours just to put him to sleep?" the sitter gaped at the several pieces of paper she had in her hands,

"If he goes to sleep at all." Mrs. Zellman sighed and turned to face me. "This is Letti, she'll be making dinner for you and Jacob." She informed her. I recognized Kelly as soon as she turned to me, her eyes flashed as she recognized me, and I smiled with a wave.

"We've met." I informed Mrs. Zellman and decided that helping Kelly might be beneficial.

"Oh." Mrs. Zellman said, looking between me and Kelly.

"She helped me find the soy cheese." I added and Mrs. Zellman nodded while Kelly gave me a questioning look when Mrs. Zellman turned her back and beckoned for Kelly to follow her down the hall...