Sea Salt (2Doc)

CHAPTER 3: Stew

The last remains of sunset were soon smothered by the horizon, leaving only a dim glow in the far distance which faded into the dark, evening sky. The tides were high now, blanketing the shoreline in its entirety. When day breaks free from the night, the tides would recede back to allow the beach to breathe again. Murdoc turned on the lights in his small kitchen and approached the stove where a large pot sat amongst other brown stains and crusted spillage.

As Stuart entered, they noticed that the floor was poorly mopped and the air smelt of grease, pepper and old fish heads, causing the siren to cough and scrunch their nose.
"Sit over there," Murdoc said, pointing to a wooden table surrounded by stools. Stuart did so, pulling one of the wooden stools out and sitting down, directing his attention back to the man in the white turtleneck in the mess, that is his kitchen.

"Um, where are we, Murdoc?" The siren asked.
"Where do you think, dullard? It's my kitchen,"
"... What's a kitchen?" The man pinched the bridge of his large nose and sighed loudly, "It's a place where you cook and prepare food."
Cook? What does that mean? All the sirens back at home just eat the food they catch without doing a single thing unless it had something attached to it that was dangerous like a sack of venom or something.

"Why do you have to, uh, 'cook' your food, Murdoc?" Stuart asked back. Murdoc made a louder sigh, "Because, if we don't cook our food, it could make me extremely sick and I would have to sit on the toilet for several hours." He explained, half-jokingly.
Toilet? What's a toilet? Ignoring that thought, they began recalling a time when they once saw a group of humans put this pink stuff on a rectangular table which sizzled and smoked until it turned brown. Maybe humans could only consume things if they were 'cooked'. Yeah, maybe that was it.

Stuart's train of thought was shortly interrupted by the sound of Murdoc lifting the lid of the pot and peering inside. He quickly withdrew and gagged a little, his face twisting into an expression of absolute revolt. Reluctantly, he took the pot off the stove and poured its murky contents into the garbage disposal chute. Stuart could see chunks of whatever it was spill out of the pot along with the rest of the thick, coagulated stuff. The stench coming from the pot nearly made the siren dry heave, but they were quick to cover any means of breathing with their hands as their eyes began to water. The sounds were enough to make anyone nauseous. Absolutely putrid.

Immediately, Murdoc threw the pot into the sink and rinsed it thoroughly with hot water, which alleviated the smell to a more tolerable degree. Drying his hands off, he moved towards a wall of hooks, which held various kitchen accoutrements and grabbed a new pot from one of them, placing it on the stove.

Removing his hands from his face, Stuart watched as the man opened a drawer and took out a chopping board and placed it on the counter. Then, Murdoc turned and headed towards the pantry where he retrieved several round objects and several long objects which Stuart had never seen before. Some were brown and some were orange. The man went back to the counter and threw the objects into another sink, rinsing them with cold water.

"What are those, Murdoc?" The siren asked from across the room.
"Vegetables, Stuart. They're called vegetables." The other replied.
"Vegetibbles?" Stuart repeated.
"Yes. Vegetables." Murdoc said in a rather annoyed tone.
"Sorry... it's just, I don't really know too much about humans and their day-to-day life." The siren said apologetically.
Murdoc looked at him for a moment and sighed.
"Alright then. I'll tell you what I'm cooking with as I go," He told the creature at the table, "And I won't be repeating myself, so listen closely and remember, alright?"
Stuart nodded vigorously at this and stayed silent as he observed the older man get to work.

One by one, Murdoc peeled and diced the vegetables into smaller cubes and placed them in the pot with something soft and yellow. 'Butter' was what he called it. Stuart watched as he walked across the kitchen and opened a tall, white box where he took out a carton with a strange animal decorating it and poured a decent amount into the pot of diced vegetables. This white liquid was called 'cream', apparently, and it came from the animal on the carton which was called a 'cow'. There were so many new and interesting things to discover on land, Stuart thought.