Writetober 2019

October 31-Ripe

"I've been thinking..."

Caitlyn stopped peeling potatoes to cast Everett a wary glance. "If this is about going to Columbia again, I thought we agreed that was a bad idea. The coffee in the stores is just fine."

"Yeah, but it's not Columbian," He bemoaned. He shook his head and returned to rubbing seasoning into the tilapia for tonight's dinner.

"Then what were you thinking?"

"You know how neither of us can get drunk?"

Caitlyn turned to scrutinize Everett with both eyes. "Yes?"

"What happens if one of your dogs eats overripe fruit?"

Caitlyn blinked at him before tilting her head and pursing her lips. "Aside from them being very sick? Not sure."

Everett gave her a smug grin and pointed at the bag of apples they'd found in the back of the pantry while looking for the potatoes. The shriveled fruit had somehow escaped molding long enough to partially ferment.

"No," Caitlyn said firmly.

"Oh, live a little!"

"Me? Yes. My dogs? No."

Everett pestered her on and off through the rest of their meal prep. By the time they stuck everything in the oven, she'd had about enough. "Everett, no! Just put them out by the trees. Wasps love fermented fruit. Let them enjoy it."

"Huh. I wonder if that could work?"

The next day, the friends meandered over to the tree line where a hive of yellow jackets was still working on the fruit and happily buzzed. The poor things couldn't even fly straight.

"Go on. Try," Everett whispered, hiding behind Caitlyn.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "They're not angry drunks. Relax."

She focused on a few of the wobbly insects and got a load of scrambled impressions. Translating images from compound eyes into something she could process was hard enough. She giggled at the tottering image of herself and Everett one wasp sent her.

"They're totally wasted. We should leave them to it."

"So? No secondhand buzz?"

"No, that's not even how alcohol works."

"Then why didn't you say that yesterday?!"

"Because their hive got flooded by the stormlast week, and they need the food before the first freeze...and I wanted to see the look on your face." She looked over her shoulder at him to wink.