All Aboard Andi's Dream Ch. 05

"Come on girls, we have company coming!" called Andi, as she corralled the twins and headed them down the stairs. The twins can race up the staircase, but coming down they take slow measured steps. Paul wasn't certain if it was because of their not being familiar with stairs or because their legs were so short. They made it to the bottom just in time to hear the stately doorbell ringing.

When Paul opened the door, the twin's eyes shot wide open. "YI!" they shouted and threw themselves at their governess like they hadn't seen her in months, and not the two hours it has actually been since they parted at the airport. For her part, Yi looked like a survivor of an Antarctic expedition. Clearly, the jacket she purchased in Florida wasn't able to withstand a Buffalo winter.

Andi tried to greet Yi, but no one could get a word in sideways over the chattering of the twins and Wonka's excited barking. While John, Gus, Macy, and Paul headed to the kitchen for coffee, Andi and Yi followed the twins up the stairs to show Yi her room. For her part, Yi was astounded by what little she has seen. "My God! This is a palace! How long does it take to clean this place?"

"I don't know," said Andi, "we have a service."

Yi gave Andi a lecherous grin. "I love it when you talk dirty like that."

"I said the same thing to Paul on my first day here."

As they reached the top of the stairs, Sandy said, "Come on! You have to go this way!" and the twins took off running to their left. Yi turned to follow but Andi held her back and they watched the twins run a full lap of the balcony ending up at Yi's new room, only feet from where Yi and Andi were standing at the head of the stairs.

Andi pointed out the new section of the balcony, "They're excited because they can run laps up here now. Come on, let's seen your new room."

Yi was in shock over the size of the room. "Oh my God! Honestly, I've had smaller apartments!" And when she found the twins hiding in the bathtub, she kicked off her shoes and joined them in the tub, as did Andi. "This is incredible! Would you mind if I, uh... entertained company?"

"We would appreciate it if you kept it down to one at a time."

"Can we take baths with Yi?" asked Madeline.

Before Yi could answer, Andi chimed in, "That's up to Miss Yi. This is her room. You can only come in here if she invites you. You have your own bathtub."

"It's not as cool as this one," moaned Sandy.

"This is the same tub that Poppa and I have, and you bathe in it all the time. Poppa still has to show Miss Yi how to work the shower."

"Work the shower?" asked Yi.

"Yeah," said Andi. "I can only remember a few pre-programed settings. The one down in the basement is MUCH cooler."

"Basement?"

Andi nodded. "There's a steam shower just off the gym."

"It's soooo cool!" added Sandy.

"Gym?"

"I like the steamy room at the cabins," said Madeline wisely.

"Steamy room at the cabins?" The last time Yi was at Paul's cabin, the second new cabin only had just gone up and was sitting empty as Gus finished the wiring and installed the attic water tank.

"Yeah, where our castle is going?" said Sandy. "didn't we tell you?"

Yi appeared to be overwhelmed. "I take it he did all this before you come along?"

Andi nodded again. "Paul was bored, so he did some upgrades before we met." They climbed out of the tub and helped the twins out. "To be honest, most of the house is as it was when he bought it. He had Gus upgrade the plumbing here and there and paint everything, then he added some gym equipment. He actually put his office on the third floor just so he didn't have to upset the floor plan on the first floor."

Yi opened the door to the walk-in closet and gasped, "I have had smaller bedrooms than this... Honestly, I have."

"You have two of those," said Andi as she showed Yi the second closet.

As they gave Yi a tour of the second floor, the Asian governess was impressed by the layout. "So, I take it that these terrorists' room is as far from mine as they can get and still be on the same floor? I like it."

"Hey!" shouted the twins in unison, then they returned to showing Yi all of their favorite toys.

With an admonishment to the twins to clean up their newly minted mess, Andi showed Yi the hall between the master suites and which cabinets would be hers, then led her down the rear staircase to the kitchen where Yi was astounded by the layout and the appliances. Like a soldier checking out his armaments, Yi inspected each appliance and utensil before a thorough check-over of the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.

"This is incredible," said Yi as she sat down at the kitchen table and joined Andi, Macy, John, Gus and Paul for coffee. "Andi said that you haven't really modified the house much?"

"I did put in a hot tub outside, and an engine hoist in the garage," said Paul.

"Garage!" cried Andi, and she jumped up and disappeared into another room, then came back with a clipboard. "Is it heated out there?"

"Of course," answered Paul.

"Perfect," said Andi as she annotated her list, before returning it to wherever she had placed it.

"What was that?" asked Yi.

"Her christening list," answered Macy. "Paul married a scientist, and she wants to do this right."

"Christening list?"

"She wants to christen this house one hundred percent, every room and closet," said Macy as she sipped her coffee.

"Hopefully, her ancient husband will survive the effort," grinned John.

The friends sat around the kitchen table telling John and Gus of the adventures they had after they left with Lucy from Nisi Arcadia, catching the "Unicorn Fish", Daniella G's video being the best advertisement their yacht vacation company Tortuga could ever desire. "After our fishing adventure, we headed back to Jupiter and parked Andi's Dream and prepared her for our first customers who will be pulling out in a week," said Paul.

"We picked up the zodiac and played with that for two days straight, then spent an afternoon sailing on the Amalthea," said Andi. That perfect sunny afternoon under sail was a perfect way to end their vacation before heading back north. Andi leaned back in her chair and thought of that warm day, the boat sliding through the water. The creak of the rope and the flutter of the sail and the words of a song she hadn't heard in ages suddenly popped into her head.

Well, it's not far down to paradise, at least it's not for me.

And if the wind is right, you can sail away and find tranquility

Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Believe me.

She smiled. For some reason, she always thought "The canvas can do miracles" had something to do with a painting. No painting could capture the peace she felt as she watched her girls cavort on deck and her man at the tiller masterfully pilot her up the inter-coastal waterway under sail. Suddenly she was back in her kitchen, Yi poking at her.

"Hey boss lady, it's getting late. I don't have a menu planned, so what do we do for dinner?"

"It's Friday, don't worry about it," smiled Andi, who then got up and headed upstairs. "I have to get you something!" When she came back, she held out a Buffalo Bills sweatshirt and a Buffalo Bills stocking cap to Yi.

"What's this?" asked the Asian Jacksonville Jaguars fan.

"Put it on. We're walking to get dinner, and that jacket you have is not near heavy enough."

It didn't take long for the group to walk the few blocks to Worzil's. The hardest part, other than getting Yi to pull on the sweatshirt, was to convince the twins that Wonka couldn't come with. And although Yi complained of the blizzard conditions, it was an enjoyable night, albeit chilly. "A bar? We're going to a bar for dinner?" asked Yi. "Things are starting to look up!"

"My dear," said John as he held the door open, "You are now going to learn about true Buffalo cuisine."

"Yeah, yeah. Wings and pizza," grumbled Yi as the warm air hit her upon entry into the crowded tavern.

"That's what we feed the tourists," said Paul as he walked up to the bar and got the attention of the middle-aged woman behind the bar. "We have eight tonight, Julissa."

"Wrong, you have nine. Lucy is already here; she's helping Ayato set up the table in the back room. How was the honeymoon, stud?"

"It had its ups and downs."

"I'll bet it did, hey sweeties!" Then she peeked over the bar. "Hey! Those are cool fish!" said Julissa to the twins as they showed off their sailfish stuffies.

"Miss Yi caught a real one just like this!" shouted Sandi.

Andi pulled out her phone and showed Julissa the picture taken of the girl anglers and their sailfish on Andi's Dream, pointing out all the folks in the picture. "Where's the guys?" Julissa asked as she scanned the picture.

"This fish was just about the girls. Paul and Stan stayed on the mezzanine and kept the twins entertained while we fished."

Just then, Lucy walked up behind Andi and gave her a warm hug, then led the group to the back area where the table was set up. Ayato Tanaka brightened up when he saw Yi enter the room. "Ah! Asian sister! Your presence has brightened my establishment and doubled the number of Asians in this village!"

"Is he for real?" Yi asked Macy.

"I'm the most real person in this room. The rest of you are figments of your own imaginations. Does everyone know what they want?"

Everyone nodded in assent except Yi, who said, "I'd like to see a menu, please."

"Of course, but I must tell you, this is Friday night. We have a special Friday's only menu." And with that, Ayato handed her a menu.

Yi opened the menu to find one side covered with a listing of beer and drinks, the other side simply gave her a choice of a fish fry, a salad, or a half fish fry and a side salad. "I'll try the half fish fry and salad." Without a word, Ayato turned on his heel and left, leaving Yi dumbfounded. "He didn't even ask how I wanted it cooked!" Then she realized everyone was staring at her. "What?"

"It's a fish fry," whispered Lucy.

"So, there's no option to get it grilled?"

"Not in Worzils on a Friday night," explained Paul. "This is the most Buffalo of Buffalo meals, even more Buffalo than a Beef on Weck."

"More Buffalo than Buffalo wings?"

"Buffalos don't have wings," Paul didn't miss a beat. "This area has a huge number of Roman Catholics, and for a long time they weren't allowed to eat meat on Friday except for fish. Well, if there's one thing we can do well in Buffalo, it's turn adversity into a party, thus was born the Friday Fish Fry Feast."

And feast it was! The plate placed before Yi was covered in mounds of potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, and French fries, crowned with a slab of beer battered haddock and a side of rye bread and butter. Yi's eyes literally bugged out at the sight of the "simple meal" placed before her. "Is this a half portion?" she whispered to Andi. Andi nodded and pointed to the table next to them where the diners there received full portions and to Yi it looked like they had received a full-size beer battered Mahi-Mahi filet. It was served on a huge oblong serving platter and hung over each end.

"How does everything look?" asked Ayato after everyone was served.

Everyone had praise for their dishes, except Yi, who held up a green leafy vegetable stem with small green fleurettes. "Uh... my garnish?"

Ayato looked mortified. "My apologies! You're a chef. You know how hard it is to get good kitchen help. If I told them once, I told them a thousand times, the broccoli rabe is for dessert!" While everyone at the table (except Yi) laughed, Ayato came up behind Yi and rubbed her shoulders.

"Just let me know who set me up and I promise I'll keep the bloodshed outside," she muttered.

"Chef Yi, you may have fallen among scoundrels, but none of them are devious enough to have pulled that off," said Ayato. "I recognized you the moment you walked through the door."

Yi turned to Ayato, "You recognized me?"

"Oh, hell yeah!" cried Ayato's wife Julissa as she joined them at the table. "He was like 'that's her! The girl from Chopped!' and I thought he was going to have a coronary. He watches Chopped every time it's on. He has your episode recorded."

Andi reached across the twins and nudged Yi on the shoulder. "You're a celebrity!"

Unsure if she should laugh or cry, Yi lowered her forehead to her hands and decided on laughing, and that's when she noticed the little fork intruding on her dinner plate and snag a small portion of coleslaw. Glancing to her right, she saw the intruder with coleslaw dressing on her face. "Salad thief!"

"It's yummy and look! I cleaned up my plate!" said Sandy the Salad Thief, and she showed off her plate that was spotless. It was spotless because Ayato had put empty plates in front of the twins.

"Me too!" chimed in Madeline. "Can we go play hockey now?"

"No air hockey until after supper," said Andi, as she took Madeline's clean plate and loaded food on to it from her own meal.

Yi took Sandy's plate and dished portions from her own plate on to it. "You need to eat before you can play hockey, momma's orders."

Just then, the familiar clink-clink of an air hockey puck being batted back and forth filled the room. "Aww, no fair!" moaned Sandy. "Now someone has the table, we'll never get to play." She stared at her plate and pouted.

"Eat!" And taking her own advice, Yi tried a bit of each salad and found them to be excellent, especially the coleslaw. No wonder why Sandy snagged it. Then she tried the fish, the part she worried about the most. She loves seafood of all types and varieties, and she constantly worries about getting a food aversion to seafood from a poorly prepared meal. A person can get a food aversion from one bad experience, a purely psychological reaction, but you'll never enjoy that meal again.

But she found the fish to be cooked perfectly - tender, moist, flavorful, and not greasy in the least. As far as Yi is concerned, deep frying is strictly for donuts, potatoes, and hot dogs, not fish. However, this was incredible. The beer batter was absolutely perfect: light, crispy, golden brown and delicious, and before she knew it, she had eaten the entire massive portion.

"Girl! Pace yourself!" chuckled Paul. "We have Friday every week. You can always come back for more."

"I couldn't help it, it was sooo good!" said Yi as she wiped away some crumbs with the corner of her napkin. "What does he serve for the rest of the week?"

"Bar munchies: small pizzas, chicken wings, subs, beef on weck..."

"What's a beef on weck?"

"Oh, you wouldn't want any of that," said John. "It's fresh sliced rare roast beef served hot with au jus on a kimmelweck. That's a hard roll covered with rock salt and caraway seeds. The traditional condiment is fresh horse radish so hot you could use it to light a cigarette. THAT is the real food of Buffalo."

Yi rolled her exquisite brown eyes at the thought. "That sounds so good! I wonder if I could get one now."

"Fille stupide!" said Macy with a smile. "Silly girl, of course not."

"Why not?"

"Because it's Friday!" chimed the whole table.

Yi learned that the people of Western New York take their fish fry as serious as they take their sports. Yes, their teams may not win The Big One (except for their magnificent Triple A baseball team, the Bisons) but they were proud of their teams. And just as they are loyal to their teams, they're loyal to their fish fry, and everybody has a favorite place to go for fish fry.

"It's been said that if you're downtown on a dark and lonely night," began Lucy, "and you're attacked by a couple of thugs, your best defense is to ask them where to get the best fish fry in town. You can make your getaway while they're arguing."

After everyone was finished with dinner, Auntie Lucy and Aunt Macy took Sandy and Madeline into the game room to play air hockey, and everyone came along to watch. A chair was set up at each end for the girls to stand on, and other than keeping the puck close enough for the girls to hit, Lucy and Macy's job was to keep the girls from falling off the chairs and retrieve the "sticks" when the twins got too enthusiastic with their shots.

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That evening, after the twins were tucked into their beds, Paul, Andi, and Yi relaxed in front of a fire in the parlor. Paul sat on the couch and Andi used his lap for a pillow while Yi curled up in the love seat. Both women were covered in blankets, and all three watched the flames dance on the logs in the fireplace. The only sound to be heard was the snap and crackle from the fire until "This house is incredible," said Yi softly.

"I can't wait to find out more about it," answered Andi.

"What do you mean?"

"She hasn't been here very long," said Paul. "We were married less than a week before we headed down to Florida. She spent almost as much time on the boat as she did in this house."

"Yeah," agreed Andi, "and before we were married, we were in the cabin for almost 5 days. Then when we got here, I spent most of my time going to the symposium and putting our wedding together."

After watching the flames dancing in the fireplace for a few moments, Yi asked, "What's on the plan for tomorrow?"

"Chickens and milk," answered Paul.

"Pardon?"

"Chickens and milk. The twins love this chore."

"It's actually eggs and milk," said Andi, seeing the confused look on Yi's face. "The girls like the chickens better than the eggs..."

"Unless I make them 'Hamlets' for breakfast," added Paul.

"So, what are these this chickens and eggs and milk thing?" asked Yi.

"We have a few chickens, so we run out to the cabin, feed the chickens, collect the eggs, and trade some eggs with a neighbor for fresh milk," Andi explained.

"I should do an inventory at the cabin, see if there's any dry goods or canned goods we need to stock up on. We probably want to move some firewood to the shed closest to the cabin also," added Paul.

"Good idea, I'm sure you weren't planning on 3 extra mouths to feed last time you stocked the cabin," said Andi. Then she smiled. "Is there a storm headed our way?"

"Next week, but it's going to be a little one, maybe a foot of snow at best."

Andi wriggled with excitement under her blanket, then reached up and pulled Paul down for a kiss. "I'll take a foot," she sighed after the kiss.

"You guys WANT a storm?" Yi was incredulous.

"We met in the worst blizzard I've ever seen," said Andi, as she snuggled down under the blanket. "The cabin is warm and dry. It's totally cozy!"

"You could die in a storm!" Yi insisted.

"You can die at sea, but that never stopped you."

"I know the risks at sea."

"Same thing here, besides someone has to take care of the chickens; we get quite a few eggs out of those girls."

"We'll have to haul up extra blankets and pillows too," said Paul, looking at Yi. "And if worse comes to worse, I have MREs and there's always fresh chicken."

The idea of fresh chicken was interesting to Yi. She loved fresh seafood going straight from the fileting knife to the iron skillet. Chicken has to be more flavorful if served fresh. That would only make sense, right? Then again, these are laying chickens. They will probably be tougher than birds that are raised to be roasters. It will have to be something like a soup or stew. "Do you have a few who are no longer producing?"

"Two or three, problem is that the twins have named one of them."

"Is it Pecky?" asked Andi.

"No, it's Chook-Chook," said Paul sadly. Chook-Chook was the girls' favorite chicken. The twins would have happily eaten Pecky Noodle Soup in retaliation for all the pokes and nips they've received from that cantankerous bird, but Chook-Chook was about as sweet to them as a chicken can get and always gave up her eggs without a struggle. She was a young bird, so her age wasn't an issue. Maybe the lack of daylight? That will cut back on egg production. "I'll try a few things with them..." then he clicked his fingers. "Protein! I forgot to boost the protein in their winter feed!" He grabbed his phone and tapped out a reminder to himself to get some high protein chicken feed from the feed store in the morning.