“My orders are clear. Eleven o’clock was the deadline.”
“Do you mean the orders you got from somebody else for you to do, or the orders you got from somebody else for me to do, or us both, or just your orders to yourself, or your orders to me?”
““She launched herself at their leader.” – Lorraine Heath’s When A Duke Loves A Woman
Tradition dictated that Albreda cook a goose for Christmas dinner. Accordingly, she set out to find an acceptable candidate amongst the geese of the manor. One goose in the manor gaggle, in particular, bore alpha status. Hence, Albreda approached the geese and launched herself at their leader.
The battle is celebrated to this day. A toast is hoisted every Christmas. Such were their stout spirits, a mutual respect bloomed and the two returned to the manor courtyard, where the goose assumed her new position as primary watchgoose.
As a vegetarian alternative to goose, Albreda went with a butternut squash vegducken.
n.b. there is no duck in vegducken, just butternut squash, eggplant, and zucchini.
I entered the Somalian Guban on foot, to meditate and fast, after waiting a month for the arrival of the seasonal rains, which fill the sandy watercourses that cross the landscape.
On my fourth day in the heat, I saw before me in the layered air, a man or a mirage. I came closer. He shimmered, black as coal. I had to fight an urge to back away. Or to embrace him.
I do not speak Benaadir. He did not speak Arabic, Bantu Swahili, or English. We walked together and shared our thoughts. On the seventh day, I was alone again.