The Odd Family's Book of Bedtime Stories

Irma's Special Seasoning

There were a lot of positives about living out in the middle of nowhere. Irma and her husband Tom had plenty of room to raise their sheep, for example. They also had plenty of privacy and didn't have to worry about noisy neighbors, a crime rate, or HOAs. All they had to worry about were wild animals and the long drive to town.

It wasn't feasible to drive into town regularly, so they didn't. Instead, they grew most of their groceries and made a lot of the things they wanted or needed. What they couldn't grow or make, they had mailed in to them or they stocked up on during one of their rare trips to town. They were still able to have an internet connection and that was what Irma was using now, to look online for new spices and recipes.

Irma was a good cook but there was only so much she could do with what she had and it was starting to get old. Tom didn't mind much but Irma did. She wanted to expand their pallets, at least a little bit. After looking at seasonings for over an hour and considering the reviews, she picked a few from different sites and had them mailed to her.

Since Irma had bought the spices from different sites, they had come in separately. The first one was lemony and garlicky. It was okay but Tom wasn't a huge fan so Irma put it away for other occasions. The second one came in a beautiful gray spice jar. The spice itself was tightly wrapped in plastic. Irma quickly opened it and poured the contents into the jar to put on the shelf. The website she had bought this one from said that it had a wonderful smoky flavor and it did.

Tom and Irma loved the second seasoning. It added flavor to everything they put it on, as if they had spent hours over a fire pit when it had only taken a few moments to make. They became addicted, putting it on everything. Irma had just made breakfast using it on the bacon when she decided to look through the mail. There was another package and a letter.

"That's odd." Irma commented, examining the package. Tom looked up from his bacon and eggs and frowned. He didn't dare speak with his mouth full. Irma held up the open box. "I'm not sure what happened. I only ordered one of these." It was another package of the smoky barbecue seasoning and this one did not look like the first one at all but that's what the cheap plastic shaker said it was. The box it came in even had the website on the label.

Then Irma went to the letter. Inside was a check and an official letter from a lawyer's office she had never heard of. It let her know that a distant cousin of hers had died. They hadn't been close since they were children so Irma had no idea he was gone. He had a lawyer, however, and had requested the remainder of his belongings be liquified and the money sent to Irma.

The letter also informed her that he had chosen to be cremated and, as she was his last living relative, his ashes would be sent to her separately.