“This rice is good. You’ll love it once you try it,” Harvey said. Corinne gave him a look of sincere pity, as if he had no idea how ignorant he was, and it was Bella’s turn to try not to laugh.
“No, I won’t. It’ll make me gag, and then I won’t be able to eat,” Corinne said seriously.
“Then you’d better eat your food,” Harvey said with a smile.
“Then you’d better not try and get me to eat that rice,” Corinne returned every bit as stonily. It was almost eerie the way she sounded like him, matching his tone and speech pattern perfectly.
The drinks and guacamole were placed on the table. Corinne recoiled instantly, pinching her nose shut and leaning back against the booth in an exaggerated fashion. She elbowed her brother who had been engrossed in his drawing. He noticed the guac, wrinkled his nose, and with a squeak of alarm, whipped his head around to look at his mother as if to demand if she were serious with this crap. She smiled encouragingly.
“Do you want to taste it? It’s salty, not spicy. You can dip one corner of your chip in and try it,” Bella said.
“No!” Caden said, “I don’t want it. It’s yucky! Where’s my applesauce?” His voice was climbing to a whine. He was tired. He was hungry. He didn’t want green goop for supper. She rocked him back and forth a little and rummaged in her purse for crackers. When she produced a cellophane sleeve of crackers she’d saved him from her salad a few days ago, Harvey cut in.
“He can eat what’s on the table or he can wait,” he said firmly.
“A few crackers won’t hurt,” she said.
She opened the crackers and gave Caden one. He was instantly mollified and munched one cracker while clutching the other one. He looked at Harvey suspiciously. This man, he’d decided, was after his crackers. Bella didn’t blame the kid for being cranky. It was a tense situation for the adults who understood what was going on. To the kids, it was just supper in a weird restaurant with a stranger who had opinions on what they should eat.
“I want crackers!” Corinne wailed, noticing that her brother had something she didn’t.
“You can have a chip,” Bella said.
“I don’t want one. I want a cracker.”
“Your mac and cheese and carrot sticks will be here soon.”
“Why can’t I have fries? If I can eat chips, why can’t I have fries? They are, l
ike, the very same thing,” Corinne said indignantly.
“Fries are made of potatoes. Tortilla chips are made of corn,” Bella said, “So they’re not the very same thing.”
“I only like cheesy chips. Other chips make me gag. And so does that smelly green goop. I can’t stand the smell. I wish they’d take it away.”
“Enough, Corinne,” Bella said coolly and Corinne, by some miracle, shut up for a minute. Bella gulped her water, wishing it were something stronger.
Harvey asked Caden about soccer. Caden continued to color. Harvey asked again. Bella nudged her son, whispered that it was polite to answer when someone asked you a question.
“He’s a stranger,” Caden said solemnly.
“No, he is my friend, Harvey. It is okay to talk to him.”
“It’s not okay to take presents from him. Or candy. Or get in a car with him,” Corinne recited proudly. “We don’t go with anyone but Mommy or Maria. Sometimes the sitter, but Mommy always tells us first and always tells our teacher, that way we’re safe.”
“Good policy,” Harvey said, “but I’m not trying to coerce you into a strange van.”
“Don’t try and tell me you’ve lost a puppy and need help looking for it either because that’s just a trick. I am not getting in a car with you!” Corinne said triumphantly.
The couple at the next table looked at Harvey, and he blushed.
“I’m not trying to get her in a car,” Harvey laughed at the couple who then looked away.
“She’s just a smart girl who knows how to take care of herself,” Bella said proudly, a little amused.
The food came, and Harvey began to interrogate the children as she cut up Caden’s chicken. “So, do you know how to read?” he asked them. Corinne shook her head, her mouth full of macaroni and cheese. Caden ignored him.
“How many goals have you made in soccer?” he asked Caden. When Bella elbowed the kid, Caden mumbled, “None.”