My Seoul Man

Chapter 39

I stutter stepped backwards as the silver "lid" rose slooowly, revealing the big onyx black "eye" that stretched across the top of the metal monster's face.

And as the red laser dot in the middle started pulsing just like in the movie and the big saucer behind him started to "buzz" and glow neon blue underneath like it was about to take off...

I let out a high-pitched, horror movie scream.

AJ ran up and hugged me from behind, cooing, "Gwenchana, aegiya (It's okay, baby/love)," while Star slip slid up the little ramp in front of the saucer yelling, "Lyle! Turn it off!"

They'd planned this little "prank" behind my back at the camp after the kids had fallen into food comas and we grownups had started sipping on Lyle's homemade hooch.

But it had backfired big time.

Only...when Star fell and slid all the way back down the front of the saucer on her butt, I busted out laughing like a lunatic—she did, too.

Cause the hooch that had made me scream also made that fall feel like the funniest thing we'd seen all day.

Even so, Gort and his saucer were quickly deactivated while the other adults carried the kids into the amoeba house.

Neither the scream nor the laughter had awakened the wee ones. Didn't surprise me.

Everyone had gotten the kind of groggy that makes you sleep through all the stupid football games and whatnot after Thanksgiving dinner.

And we'd had a feast and a half, boy. I mean, I thought my gumbo and AJ's mala dish would be the stars of the show, but those women had learned to make miracles out of the simplest things.

Dar threw together a salad full of foraged berries, greens, flowers, shrooms and roots that was almost too beautiful to eat. But after the first bite, I couldn't stop eating it.

And the Williams fam had brought a big quiche type of thing with wild onions and mushrooms in it, too. Melted in your mouth, whatever the hell it was.

I'm still trying to "reverse engineer" a recipe for both dishes. Wouldn't add it to our menu or anything—the world has stolen enough from those people, you know? But I sure would love to serve them on holidays or at parties. Just to see people's eyes light up.

They reminded me of Mama Sadie, who could also pick something wild and turn it into the best meal you'd ever had.

Told us, "They threw us the innards and scraps and then they'd come slinkin' down to the quarters wantin' a little taste o' what we made out of it."

Talking about the plantation and field owners who came down to beg for bits of the bits they'd begrudgingly given us. Because we made those bits taste better than all the fancy food they'd had for dinner that night.

Lyle came back, hauled Star up off her butt and said, "Y'all c'mon out to the shack with me! Gonna blow their minds this year, boy!"

I figured he was about to show us the still he made his hooch in when we were struggling through the tall brush and tiny spindly trees.

But remember that Sturgis biker gathering I spoke of once? Well, Lyle sold custom "super bikes" to all the crazy rich celebs who made the pilgrimage every year.

Sexiest cycles I'd ever seen in my life. Course, I don't know dick about bikes, so I can't give you a rundown of all the alterations and "elaborations" he'd added to the two he showed us.

But the one AJ fell in love with was tricked out like something a Marvel superhero would chase bad guys on. Looked like it could fly almost.

One had sold for over half a million after being featured in some magazines. Which explained why he could live out there in the middle of nowhere making crazy cars and gadgets like a big happy kid.