Tales To Tell In The Dark

Special Ingredients

The sunlight creeps in through the open blinds as the scent of bacon fills the house, bringing Earl out of his slumber. He walks down stairs and takes his seat at the kitchen table. His wife, Mary, brings him his breakfast on a tray. Earl looks down at the tray and looks back at Mary angrily, "You call this a breakfast?!" He throws the tray to the floor, then reaches over and slaps Mary across her face. "Clean up this mess and make it right!"

Mary picks up the tray and almost starts crying as she sweeps away the broken dishes and scattered food, her cheek still hurting from her husband's temper. She gathers everything she'll need to remake breakfast and returns to the stove. She prepares his sausage, juicy but not greasy. She prepares his eggs, fried over medium. She prepares his orange juice, only a hint of pulp. Before she prepares his bacon, she dips it into some kind of mixture.

As the meal is cooking, Earl asks, "What is that smell? It smells so good!"

"That's the bacon; I used a special ingredient," Mary replies. Mary puts everything on a plate and brings Earl's breakfast to him on the tray. She begins to clean up as he devours his breakfast.

When he finishes his plate, he demands more bacon made with her special ingredient. After more than twenty years with him and his temper, Mary had learned not to deny Earl what he wants. She quickly dried some of the clean dishes and prepared her special ingredient.

She once again dips each piece of bacon into the mixture, this time subtly looking over her shoulder to make sure Earl's attention isn't on her. She carefully places each strip onto the pan, gently dabbing them with more of her special ingredient before turning the stove on.

As she sets the plate full of bacon in front of him, Earl asks, "What's in this special ingredient of yours that makes this so delicious?"

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Eat your breakfast and I'll show you when you're done," she replied.

"Woman, don't you start telling me what to do!" Earl retorted.

"I'm sorry. I only meant that I'd need to look at everything again to remember what's in it," she said timidly.

Satisfied that, as he would put it, she knew her place, Earl started eating more of her delicious bacon. Before he could finish the plate, however, he starts having trouble breathing. Mary continues grabbing the items used for her special ingredient as Earl slowly suffocates.

As he falls to the ground, she steps aside showing him everything she used including an unmarked, dark-colored container. Mary begins cleaning the kitchen as Earl fades away.