Buttered Noodles
Her name was Laurie McTwist. Today she was exhausted and had little sleep. Her shift at the bar had been a hard one….she recognised a few men there from the dating apps. And a lot of awkward glances. A few of those were with their buddies. Some with their wives.
She sat down at the table, black coffee, toast and some sugary biscuits. From a cupboard she pulled out a bottle of tia Maria. “Irishing her coffee” like her own mother used to do.
She had a headache but she was hurting too. Her mother would treat herself to one of these “Irish coffees” whenever she was stressed out.
Laurie had a lot of these. But today she would stick with one. She was tired enough that she felt like she could sleep and drop dead on the spot.
This would be her breakfast and then bed. And then round 2 later.
She hadn’t wanted to take on the bar job, but it was to partially cover some court fees and to get ahead with her bills.
She thought it would be much easier than this, certainly harder than her main job.
She was a self-employed cleaner, and she was pretty good at it.
She found herself stretched thin across many things. Like all of her time now was slept in with and not at home. What did she do other than work now?!
No wonder Timmy was upset with her.
She took a deep drink from her coffee mug, it was at the perfect temperature to drink for her. She liked big gulps and was never a sipper.
Her son was asleep.
She thinks he is asleep. I really don’t want to disturb him, or rather I really can’t take him after that shift.
What time was it? Her watch had stopped and her crappy HTC had died on her. Light was shining through the windows, dawn was here.
She laughed that she never thought she’d see two 5 o’clocks in the day.
When she got up she would have to be ready to feed Timmy.
Foal tendies had been put in the freezer. They’d be fried up before she left for work.
She was thinking about her daughter Rachel. She’d normally be up and eating some toast. She loved toast and vegemite. Weird child. And she’d be watching that pony show that she liked. And that Timmy liked too.
She lived with her ex-husband now, she walked out of the house. She hadn’t been married for long to her ex and he certainly wasn’t Rachel’s biological father.
She felt really sad that she left. Her bedroom became storage for more of Timmy’s stuff that he would order from whatever garbage site he’d go on and spend his money.
Timmy’s demands and lifestyle were too much for Rachel to deal with. And she was younger too, there’s no way she could’ve coped.
Timmy was a special boy with special needs.
And his needs and actions meant that she had to take on a second job she didn’t want and work all hours to make ends meet.
She took a deep drink from the bottle of the tia Maria. It was close to empty now.
She felt a pang of regret.
And shock. She felt really bad that she would think badly of Timmy like that. She put the bottle back, she hadn’t realised before that she had kept tight hold of it.
She had charged her phone long enough for it to go back to 3% and went through her phone looking at her old pictures. She couldn’t ever part with this phone despite a faulty battery and a cracked screen.
She heard Rachel had a few on-off boyfriends, was doing pretty good in school, had hurt her leg in track, even took on a summer job.
But not from Rachel, she’d heard this from other people. She missed her and hadn’t spoken with her since she walked out.
Laurie could hear something at the door.
A tapping. This early?
It must be why they’re knocking so quietly. Laurie opened the door.
“Hewwo nice waydee du hav nummies fo mak miwkies fo babbehs?”
A fluffy this early? She had never seen fluffies up and awake at this time. But then she remembered that they tend to be early risers and go to bed early in the evening. Just like small kids.
They used to have a fluffy here until it died in awful circumstances……she put that to the back of her mind…….
She didn’t have the energy to entertain but she had less energy to move the fluffy along or shoo it away.
The fluffy looked up earnestly, it’s happy eyes looking expectantly.
“Sure. Come in. Promise no poopies or noisies. My son is asleep upstairs……he’s……….allergic to fluffies”
“Otay nice waydee. Wut is werjic?”
The fluffy looked puzzled but was very happy to walk into the kitchen.
The fluffy wasn’t alone.
Laurie had noticed two baby fluffies on her back.
Tiny things, one a brown with wings and the other a lime green colour. The mare herself was an Earthie, light yellow in colour with a pink mane.
All of them would make very nice pets for someone. Laurie never liked seeing them on the street. Such poor creatures, they’re just not made for the real world out there.
Laurie could see various pulsing scars along the mare’s body. The scars had healed but hadn’t calloused. Fluffy skin isn’t capable of forming callouses except on their hooves.
Had someone done this to her? It seemed so really cruel to treat them like this……
“Tank oo nice waydee, du hab Sketties or any nummies. Fwaffy has tummy hewties and nu miwkies fo babbehs. Am bad mummah”
The mare looked seriously down after she said this.
Laurie hadn’t ever seen a fluffy this sad before. She’d heard all about how cheery and happy they were all the time to annoyance. She thought back to her own little fluffy, Misty. That little thing was always so happy.
Rachel really loved her and would make braids with her mane and tail……
This one was miserable and hungry. No fluffy should ever look like this. You could see from the scars if it wasn’t obvious enough.
“Okay fluffy. Why don’t you lie down with your babies and have a rest”
“Otay. Tank oo Mummeh”
The fluffy found herself a spot close to where the sun was shining by the door. She began to nestle in the corner and began to lick at her brown coloured Babbeh.
Licky cleanies they call that. The other foal was padding its mother, waiting for its turn and asking for Huggies too.
Laurie had looked in her fridge for meats and other things, cheese, definitely butter in…………how is my fridge so empty?
Each shelf had bare amounts of food. Only 2 shelves had a small amount. She really should’ve called into the 24/7 place before she got home……
Other than the freezer having a lot of foal tendies in there, there was little else in.
The cupboards?
Dried spaghetti, salt and pepper, various tins (one out of date a long while ago).
Nothing suitable for a fluffy.
How long had it been since she actually cooked anything other than foal tendies?
Laurie mostly subsisted off sandwiches, black coffee and usually had a meal made for her while working. She mostly ate whatever bar food which needed to be eaten before closing time. She had more than enough nachos from that place……
How did I end up having nothing in at all?
“Do mummeh maybe hav Sketties? Mummah wub bestest skettie to mak bestest miwkies fo babbehs”
Spaghetti? It’s such a plain food……why do they love it so much? Was it the sauce? The noodles?
She breathed a sigh of relief that she at least had spaghetti noodles in.
Rachel loved noodles too. Spaghetti. She always had such a dodgy tummy as a girl.
She then realised that she had some butter in the fridge….She could make something after all……
“…yes fluffy. I’ll cook you some Sketties.”
Laurie was happy she had the dried spaghetti in now. She wasn’t exactly fond of it but it was something for guests. A staple of the cupboard. But she had no guests over.
Not the sort who would stay for meals anyway.
But no spaghetti sauce. Or chopped tomatoes. But the butter was perfect for what she wanted it for.
The smell from the tomatoes would’ve awakened Timmy.
She really didn’t want that. Not at this time. And not with fluffies around.
He’d have been angry that it wasn’t a foal tendies smell. Timmy really hated vegetals, he was such a picky eater……
Spaghetti…into buttered noodles.
Simple enough to make. It was one of the first meals that she had taught Rachel to cook. Rachel loved this meal……
Laurie had began to boil the water.
Salted it. She was happy that she had the salt in too.
Boiling point. Spaghetti in the pan. Keep stirring.
She pulled out a noodle after a few minutes to try it out. She wasn’t the best cook and she had thrown the wrapper in the bin. She had an idea of how long it takes to cook.
A bit starchy but the fluffy wouldn’t mind. They’re not very picky eaters and they barely complain about food given.
She learned a lesson from one of those cooking shows from long ago. It came into her head suddenly. Sometimes doing something after so long brings back the memories. She saved a cup of the pasta water, she would use it soon.
She went into the fridge for her final ingredient. Butter. A full block of it, close to the expiry date. She’d keep it out the fridge, if she got some bread in later she could make toast with butter.
She used to make buttered noodles for Rachel when she was sick or had an upset tummy. A simple meal to soothe an aching belly. It was so quick to make the way she did it.
Water strained.
Spaghetti back in.
Stir.
Added the butter along with the cup of pasta water.
Stirred and stirred.
She left it on a plate to cool off so the fluffy didn’t burn her tongue. She remembered how much Misty liked lukewarm sketties……and that one time when Laurie made it too hot! Poor thing….she should’ve not put it on as long in the microwave……
“Here you go fluffy, buttered noodles”
“Bwutted noodwuws?”
“Yes, fluffy. Just like Sketties”
The fluffy looked hesitant. And then a second later began to eat. It didn’t take that long for the fluffy to decide to eat it at all.
“Tank oo nice waydee”
Laurie had saved a bowl for herself, she looked down at the fluffy.
The fluffy was certainly enjoying it. It had made a mess on the floor, but whatever dropped the fluffy would pick up and eat.
A massive plate of buttered noodles, let’s hope this is enough for your babies to have some milk from you.
The fluffy had finished the plate. And whatever had dropped onto the floor. They’re messy eaters but this one barely left a strand of noodle.
“Tank oo so much nice waydee. Bwuttwed noodwews betta than Sketties!! Wub wub noodwews”
“I’m glad you enjoyed them fluffy”
Laurie had let the fluffy out, foals on her back.
She insisted they kept quiet but that’s pretty hard for a fluffy to do. She kept an eye on upstairs, waiting for any sign of movement from Timmy.
The fluffy would walk down further down the street and rest in the bushes and feed her babies their milkies. A lot of fluffies had appeared around the area quite recently. They settled around the bushes and the trees, they could often be heard chirping and cooing and asking for a new Daddeh by the neighbourhood joggers.
It was nice to have company. It was nice even to make something other than fried foal tendies.
She enjoyed the company despite her fatigue. And it felt satisfying to be thanked for her cooking too.
She tried her cooking, the buttered noodles her daughter had loved.
Needs a little pepper, but pretty okay.
Laurie added her desired amount of pepper and ate more. It was 7am already. Where had time gone? She’d normally be asleep at this point.
She left the bowl in the sink and set the alarm on her phone. She took the charger up with her and plugged it into the usual spot and put her phone back on charge. She couldn’t trust it to stay charged fully.
Before she went to sleep for the few hours she had that she could, she sent a simple text message.
“Thinking of you. Love you and miss you x please come home Rachel. Mom xxx”
It is