I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-06-16 18:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | kaylee frye |
i_getdirty Hot Food [narrative]
It had been nearly a day since Kaylee's rations had run out. She was too scared to venture very far from the her little chunk of the engine room. In a wall compartment, she found a box of protein she had stashed up there for snack emergencies when she was working on fixing a coupling or a new hydraulic or something of the like. But now that the protein was eaten, Kaylee thought she'd better explore the area around her camp.
She waited until day to leave the twisted metal heap of engine room. The woods had never been a place Kaylee went often, even on her prairie-of-a-planet home of Pacquin. But these woods quickly became a manicured botanical garden. She'd seen pictures of big houses with big gardens in some of Inara's captures. The garden had a stone path that meandered through it, which led to a large iron fence. Just on the other side of the fence was a road, buzzing with traffic. People pushed by on foot in a hurry to get somewhere.
Kaylee wandered out of the gate entrance to the park and spied a diner across the street. It was chrome and shiny with a big neon sign overhead that blinked "HOT FOOD". Hot food sounded really good right now. But Kaylee didn't have a credit on her. Couldn't hurt to, maybe, see if they had any extra?
Outside, the smell of deep fried wonders was tantilizing to someone who had only been eating protein rations for the past week. But inside, displays of cakes and pies spun around in a large glass case. A grill was aflame behind the counter. And servers whizzed past carrying large trays of meats and eggs. Kaylee's mouth was definitely watering.
"Help you, dear?" asked a little old lady behind a small counter.
"Oh! I, um..." Kaylee dug her hands in her pockets. Gripping what she thought was a handful of spare washers, she pulled out her hand to reveal coins. Kaylee had never seen any kind of coins like these, but there was also paper money along with them. Well, wasn't this her lucky day! "Could...could I see a menu, please?"
The lady smiled and handed her a menu. "Just take a seat at the counter, and someone will be along to take your order."
"Thanks..." Amazed at the find in her pocket, Kaylee sat down at the counter.
Soon enough, she had a plate of bacon, toast, eggs, sausage, and pancakes in front of her, along with a cup of tea and orange juice. She was so hungry, she figured she'd just eat it all and run if she didn't have enough money. It would be stealing, technically, which would make her feel guilty. But there were worse jobs they had been on - "they" being Serenity's crew.
As Kaylee ate, a waitress was having a struggle with a blender. She grumbled and smacked the blender's glass cylinder. When three other waitresses, and, finally, a cook tried to fix it, none of them seemed to have any luck. The blender still choked and sputtered. Kaylee, still munching on toast, was wondering if the motor was anything like the sub-reverse engines in Serenity. When someone swept past her to pick up her empty plates, Kaylee tapped the lady on the arm.
"Do you mind if I took a look at that...mixer there? I think I can fix it." The waitress shrugged, bringing over the blender to Kaylee. Finally, with a screwdriver from her cargo pocket, Kaylee had the blender buzzing again.
"Well aren't you the little mechanic," the lady from the front counter commented when Kaylee paid her bill.
"You have no idea," Kaylee muttered, counting out the bills. She ended up three dollars short. But the lady waved it off.
"For fixing something like that, we'll give you that meal on the house."
"Really?" Kaylee grinned. "Thank you very much."
"You're welcome, dear."
Kaylee bounced down the steps of the diner and was about to venture back to her camp when she paused and looked back at the diner. She couldn't depend on something like that to happen every time she wanted to eat. But a thought came to her. Turning back up the steps, she caught the lady at the counter. Kaylee had an idea.
"Well...we don't have many appliances to fix...but you say you can fix anything?"
"Anything in the 'Verse," Kaylee said proudly. She sure hoped it was true. Some of the transports she saw around here didn't look like any spacecraft she ever saw.
"Come have a look at this then." The lady led Kaylee back behind the diner. Parked there was an old delivery truck. "My husband has been trying to get that thing running for the past thirty years."
Walking over to peer in at the engine, this was DEFINITELY different than anything Kaylee had ever seen before. "I dunno...but I can give it a try."
The lady smiled. "You said you needed a place to stay, dear?" Kaylee nodded. "We've got a little apartment that might suit you fine..."