Arctic Dogs: Metamorphosis

Chapter 20 - Without Me

Wednesday, the First Week of December

Week 1 (Day 3) of Filming

Temporary Canteen, old Beidongshan

11am

"Trust me, I got a great catering team that came in this morning. You had no idea who they were!" PB felt excited to share the caterers as they were about to reach the tent.

"Right, who will that be?" everyone felt famished over this anticipation.

"Oh, you'll see," PB let the rest of the crew into the tent. "Ladies first."

As the crew entered the tent with Jade and Bertha first, a smack of aroma hit them. It was a completely different vibe from the two previous lunches, and they knew the reason when they looked to the caterers. Immediately, Swifty and PB recognised some ladies as their mum's friends. They owned a homely Korean restaurant they always frequent. Seven lunch ladies worked tirelessly to cook their home-style dishes to the acting and production crew who were in love with that homeliness.

Among one of the lunch ladies was an energetic arctic fox who coordinated the lunch service. "Mum!" Swifty cried out. "What on earth was she doing here? I thought she had work at that audit firm!"

Swifty and PB's Mum, Penny, waved from the distance. It felt like a complete surprise, but Swifty enjoyed his Mum's cooking the best. Penny told the crew she will converse with the boys later as she served a generous portion of spicy soup, rice and kimchi to everyone. Once the crew sat down, it was hard not to wolf down the food. The soup hit the spot; the rice was perfectly cooked, and the cabbage kimchi was optimally fermented.

"Man, I really need to sleep," PB felt tired suddenly. The food coma started to hit. "But I told you, it's really delicious!"

"Yeah," the rest of the crew groaned with satisfaction. They felt stuffed over the food. At that moment, Penny approached the table with a plate of Korean sweet rice cakes. "On the house, guys. You deserved it."

"Thanks, Mum," Swifty grabbed the plate and the toothpicks to collect their slices of cake. "But, why are you here?"

"The audit firm approved my annual leave," Penny sat down with her biological son. "So I thought, 'why not I bring in the ahjummas to serve you lunch?' Anyway, how's the food?"

Penny looked around and saw the entire crew satisfied over the meal. Her two sons felt satisfied, Jade thanked Penny politely, Lemmy slept like a baby on his chair while Leopold and Bertha were giving Penny endless thumbs-ups. "I assume everyone enjoyed the cooking today?"

"Mum, thank you," was what she heard from Swifty. "Anyway, Perry?"

PB sat upright. "Oh, yes, as what's stated –"

"You don't need to tell us. We'll happily accept whatever terms you gave us. After all, you deserved a good meal."

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

After lunch, Swifty told everyone about the snowball fight at the office. They knew he will not be coming for the event because of a recent development: the villain's lair.

"I'll be heading there with Duke to inspect. Professor Otto, Grandpa, and an army of puffins will be there," Swifty checked his bag inside the lounge. He found everything inside.

"Swifty," Jade was quick to react, "Will you give us photos of the inside?"

"Oh yes, the photos. Duke and I will send you some." Swifty checked his watch. It was time. Swifty bade goodbye to his crew as he carried his bag out of the old post office. He climbed upwards to a temporary carpark where Duke was waiting. He had taken off his boots and stored them at the boot of his father's SUV. Grey and monstrous.