The BBQ

[StantonBros]

The sound of sizzling meat and humming was present in the Stanton Mansion back yard. Cut was cooking in the back yard on a classic red fireball charcoal grill. He was lightly poking one of the steaks, checking on it's doneness.

"Sure smells good" Cut commented to himself, "I wonder what kind of sauce I should serve this up with?"

[scribblerrigby]

A rustling overhead, sudden wave of stench, and a small thud heralded Marlee’s arrival, her appearance so swift and sudden; one would’ve thought she might have dropped from the sky. Which, as a matter of fact, she did – misjudging her landing and tumbling over herself into the backyard fence.
Unfazed, she hopped up, shook herself off, grinned and ran towards the tantalizing smell
“Hey, Cut! Whatcha’ cooking?”
She eyed the sizzling stakes and glanced up at Cut, hopefully.

[StantonBros]

When the offsetting pungent odor graced Cut's nose, he couldn't help but smile, even though it was a very offensive smell, it was also very recognizable. Thankfully they were outside so that the smell had a place to go, but after being with Marlee so much Cut started to get used to the smell.
"That's just cute" Cut mumbled to himself as he saw Marlee's quick rebound time from running into the fence to standing at his side looking at him with those big beautiful orange eyes.
"Steaks, though they are not done yet" Cut answered as he gave the steaks in question with a poke of his stainless steel tongs, "but they should be done soon, and yes, you can have some."
Cut then placed his hand on Marlee's shoulder and asked, "so, what kind of sauce would you like on your steak, a nice cream sauce, or maybe a nice herb tomato sauce, tartar sauce. Oh, how about cranberry sauce, the tart yet sweet cranberry mixing in with the steak's beefyness, maybe topped with lemon zest for another dimension of flavor. Wait, how about we use the sauce for Welsh Rabbit, a nice creamy cheese sauce with the umph of dark beer and..." Cut then shook his head adding, "sorry, got carried away."

[scribblerrigby]

Well, now he’s just doing that on purpose! Marlee smiled and played mock-demure “We’ll use it all! You had me at ‘steak!’” She giggled, and then stared hungrily at the steaks, resisting the temptation to leap up and snatch one right off of the grill.
“Just a few more minutes, huh?” Totally worth the little rumbles in her stomach.
“But they look SO GOOD. Hey, we gotta’ share these with Paste tonight!”

[StantonBros]

"Well, maybe, we can try that, but I think you deserve better" Cut said as he gave Marlee a big one handed hug.
"Paste? Well, he's working on another case, and usually I make extra so he can have some the next day," Cut then patted Marlee's head, "but someone got to it first. Don't worry, he would rather give it to you than eat it himself." Cut then slid open the glass door and Marlee's stench seemed to vanish as the smell of baked goods and cinnamon flooded the back yard.
"Come inside, make yourself at home" Cut said closing the grill, "I should be following you in real soon, just don't try eating the cinnamon buns, they are still in the oven."

[scribblerrigby]

“WOOHOO! Yep! Sure thing!” she managed to say before she was nearly bowled over by the strong, delicious smell wafting towards her through the open door. Ohhh, maaaaan….

She stepped inside, doing her best to ignore the smell as she looked for somewhere to settle down. She cringed as she walked past the oven, pastries so close and so smelly that she could just taste them. Don’t eat it, don’t eat it, DON’T eat it – self-control, SELF CONTROL! Her stomach turned painfully, but she barely managed to pass them without serious damage done. He wasn’t kidding – the pastries were pretty hot. "Stomach of steel, my butt," she grumbled, fanning her mouth with her oversized wings. "Last time I try sneaking something out of the oven!"

Lesson learned.

It had been some time since she first met Cut and his brother Paste; she had since been to their outlandishly large house more times than she could be bothered to count. Even so, she was convinced that she hadn’t seen the entire thing yet, and as she plopped down on a very comfortable couch in front of a television, her stomach growling rudely, she had an idea:

“Hey, Cut! Can I see the rest of the house?”

[StantonBros]

"Sure" Cut answered, walking into the kitchen holding a large plate with the steaks on them, "just don't get yourself into too much trouble alright?"

Cut then started working on the sauce, an old family secret that happens to be good on everything from salads to burgers, and Cut even suspected that it was the secret sauce used on the BigMax burger. As he dumped the tofu and other ingredients in the blender and turned it on he checked on the oven.

"I told her it was hot" Cut chuckled as he picked a feather out of the pan and quickly stuck it in his pocket. He then measured the powdered sugar and other things and began to mix the frosting.

[scribblerrigby]

James Bond. Desperate Housewives. News. Stock exchange. News. Infomercial. News. News.

Marlee flicked the remote delicately with her claw, looking for something to distract her from the promise of steaks, and…more…cinnamon buns. (That first one was pretty tasty! )

Not much luck on the television. She’d either seen it all or didn’t want to bother. Flick. Flick.

This was interesting – “The Beast from the DEEP!” Some old black and white creature feature. She had a soft spot for those. Not that her life wasn’t one large creature feature already, but a guy in a bad rubber costume running around and terrorizing the obligatory stock cast was always pretty entertaining. And, she’d be slow to admit, just the right amount of scary, too.

She wiggled deeper into the sofa, happy for now, and waited for Cut to arrive with the goods.

[StantonBros]

Cut quickly drizzled the sauce over the steaks and had some mashed potatoes plopped on the plate and drizzled in gravy. He also added a little garnish and set up a couple of drinks, a soda with a straw for Marlee, and for him, a large glass of home made lager that was fermenting in the spare bathroom just a few weeks ago. Though, he did put a small amount of Wassail in the electric kettle to be ready for dessert.

Looking at the dishes though, he knew that he was just wasting time dressing up Marlee's dish, but it didn't matter. Silently he went to the living room and quickly set up a pair of TV trays before retreating to the kitchen and delivering the two steak dinners.

"Good choice" Cut commented when he discovered that they were watching "The Beast from the DEEP".

"Maybe, if we are lucky, I can find a drive-in movie for us to visit" Cut said in a cheerful quiet voice before he began eating his steak.

[scribblerrigby]

Marlee froze mid-steak, and stared at Cut as if he’d grown another head. The thought had never even occurred to her -nobody had ever suggested anything like that to her before. The gesture was touching, and the realization of what Cut had said hit her like an oddly welcome ton of bricks. She promptly leapt up, all food forgotten, and nearly smothered him with a giant, smelly hug.

“REALLY?! Oh, Cut – we should! Know of any good places around here? Oh, MAN – I’ve never been to one of those before! We should totally make a party of it and bring snacks and friends and snacks and a grill and snacks…it’ll be so much FUN!”

In fact, she recalled, the only theatrical movies she’d attended had been with Laurie while wearing her dubious disguise, and, with a little help from the electrically-inclined Iso working the projector, old movies in the abandoned theatre by Marlene’s place. All she knew of drive-ins she had learned from watching Grease and listening to stories from her older sisters –and even then she suspected (and prayed) that not everybody acted like that. A sudden onscreen ambush startled her back into the moment.

She remembered her steak, and promptly devoured it. “This is DELICIOUS, Cut! “ She cocked her head and pondered the last piece. “I’ve never had this sauce before, either! It’s pretty good!”

[StantonBros]

Cut was caught by surprise at Marlee's sudden reaction, though he enjoyed it, she was fluffy and cute and all around lovable. Though the smell was a bit stronger than usual, but it didn't bother him, he was used to it. Still, Cut was quite amazed that Marlee had such strong feelings for going to the movies, that it actually pulled her away from her meal.

"Of course, there's bound to be a drive-in movie theater somewhere" Cut answered, "not to mention that we would be going all retro in the hotrod and everything."

"Thank you, it's a secret family sauce" Cut added, "maybe I can unveil the secret when your older."

[M]

Dusk was settling but still had many hours left until nightfall, M could usually tell how long she had in each form via an internal clock, something she has learnt to listen to so she doesn’t get caught out when changing. She has learnt the hard way ignoring the silent alarm and has been lucky it wasn’t in front of a human so far. It could even adjust for daylight savings.

She was getting snotty and disdain looks from the few people who walked by or looked out of their large, double glazing bay windows. It wasn’t surprising, not in this part of the city, this area was where the larger houses with the well kept gardens stood; where cop cars did patrols more regularly and were more alert then anywhere in the sticks M hailed from. She also didn’t dress like she belonged here; no designer tops, no thigh clinging jeans with little black boots and no tiny bag that was supposed to be big enough to fit things into it, but wasn’t; instead her clothes were baggy, with many layers, grubby and mismatched, not to mention the hoodie. Oh, can’t forget the hoodie, everyone who wore a baggy hooded jumper was certain to be trouble and a thug, usually a thief too, especially at this time of day.

Well they’d be right about the thief part, maybe sometimes she causes trouble – usually for herself, but M wasn’t one to break into houses or mug little old ladies. She just took food when nobody was looking, money still being a foreign concept to her, while food was a much loved friend and aid.

M shifted the battered brown rucksack on her back and looked over her shoulder. It wasn’t often she came down this way and she now remembered why. There wasn’t enough hiding places, there were no food joints either. The houses were large and open, many had dogs and lights and alarms. The best money could buy no doubt and M was walking down their golden paths with a hood over her head and a presence that made police wanting to arrest her for just being there.

She sighed and turned the corner, heading a different direction towards the town centre; no use taking the same route back when there was nothing. Down this way the houses looked more homely and actually familiar, the gardens were nice, but many were overgrown or had a lot of cover that even a lion could hide between. The gardens were close together with paths between the boundaries. It was still a well off area, judging by the shiny, large cars and weird looking ones that only someone with enough money would want.

The air smelt of food. Jackpot! Following her nose led her to a party, she could hear voices in the garden and house and looking through the wooden fence she could see there were at least 20 people in the garden and around the buffet table. Not willing to give up so easily, M followed the fence around, out of sight from the main road and front of the houses, she found the back gate and was happy to find she could go in and hide behind the shed near the back, but no way to the buffet without being seen. She waited a while to see if they would go inside the house. Everyone was wearing smart dresses and suits, the table had a white cloth. It was all very fancy.

She opened her bag and bought it round her front and had crawled through the bushes as close as she could and waited patiently for the right time. There was a high clanging sound from a glass and spoon and people turned to look at the speaker. M took her chance.

It all happened so quickly and of course she was spotted, but not before she had shoved as much as she could in her bag and legged it back towards the gate, just as some of the men became a little too close for comfort. It was a pity one of them was a trained athlete and reached the gate before her, fortunately he was not trained in turning sharply and missed M when she skilfully stopped dead and turned in another direction, dodging his grabbing hand. She climbed over the fence into another garden as swift as a cat, with angry yells and shouts nipping at her heels.

M stopped between some bushes several gardens down, panting out of breath, but grinning like a Cheshire cat, only stopping herself from laughing out loud in case someone heard. They had given up the chase quite quickly, she was pleased, and none managed to get over the fences like she had. Easy and the food wasn’t bad either.

M later found another easy party to crash, this time it was a barbecue. The smell of cooked meats was enough to draw her from several gardens away, she walked the path, following her nose again, but she was a little more edgy, looking over her shoulders in case any of the guests from the last party should turn up or worse. She decided to run instead.

When she peered through a hole in the fence, the garden was empty, but the barbecue had hot coals, maybe one of those boxes nearby had food? The red head looked for a way in, but the gate was locked so she risked climbing over, that was when she saw the flashing lights. The police had just pulled up; they must have seen her come this way as they got out of the car and walked towards the house door, but the other decided to approach the garden. In a panic M looked around the garden to hide, but the plants were just really weeds and diving over the fence right now would cause too much noise, why did this place seem so familiar?

The doorbell rang and M ran blindly through the back door into the house where she hide behind some furniture and waited, her muscles tense, ready to run and at the same time an annoying niggling at the back of her mind that this place was familiar, however she ignored that piece for the moment, not getting arrested or detained with only a hour or so before changing was not a smart idea. Stupid! Stupid!

[scribblerrigby]

Marlee had just made up her mind to weasel the secret family recipe out of Cut when the sound of approaching sirens shook her out of her growing curiosity.

“Hey-hey, aren’t those right outside the house?” She leaped up, hopped to the window and peeked out. She looked back, raised her eyebrows at Cut, eyed the meat and looked out again.

“Uhhhhhh…they’re coming right up here, Cut. Right to the door. And they look piss... pretty angry,” she automatically censored - a result of stints in public after too much TV. “Um, should I be here, Cut? What do they want? What would they do if they saw-“

And she yelped loudly as her peripheral vision caught a shadowy figure darting behind a large chair.

[StantonBros]

Cut was confused, he wasn't visited by the cops much, at least not at his house. Though before heading to the door he checked the back sliding door and locked it, noticing some extra dirt tracked in to the house.

"Don't worry Lily, just stay behind the door and..." Cut said trying to calm her down, but quickly grabbed the shotgun when he heard her yelp, "I think we have company." He slowly entered the living room and crept around the seating before approaching the last chair to check, his shotgun at the ready.

"Stand up slowly and show me your hands" Cut warned the shady figure as he pointed the shotgun at her head, "I must warn you that I don't mind getting my carpet dirty with someone's blood."

[M]

M’s blood ran cold, did they see her? Why did someone yelp, they saw her didn’t they? She crouched as small as she could behind the sofa and held her breath, it was so loud! Why did her breathing have to be so loud? Her heart pounded against her chest, could they hear that too? The back door clicked locked and she fought down panic, she was trapped in here! Should she run somewhere? Did they know she was here? No, course not, surely. Was there a better place to hide? Not without risking being seen, but currently this one wasn’t a very good one at all.

What did he say? It all went quiet, even the siren had been shut off, but the blue lights were still reflecting on the walls. She had to breathe again, slowly, quietly, what was that? She hesitated to move, her muscles frozen, what are they doing now? So quiet, the door hasn’t been answered, it didn’t sound like they’ve moved far from the room. The door bell rang again, making M jump slightly and then someone was right behind her…

M has never had déjà vu before, but she was experiencing it right now. It’s funny how memories crop up a bit too late when they would’ve been useful earlier and all this mess could’ve been avoided. Typical.

M lifted her hands carefully as told once she felt the gun nudge the back of her head, she wasn’t sure whether to feel relief or still feel scared that she has a gun to her head. Again. She swallowed her fear so she can talk; it wasn’t needed now, but tell that to the adrenalin coursing through her veins. She stood up slowly, her back still facing him.

“You know, we have to stop meeting like this, Cut. People will start to talk.” She was relieved her voice didn’t shake that much and her normal witty manner held strong. She didn’t dare move or turn around, she saw the harpy from the corner of her eye and she smiled her award winning smile at Marlee. Yeah, now she remembered why this place was so familiar.