The Wife

4: Kebabs

As you set up camp for the night on the edge of the desert, you decided it was time to put Chouko down. "Akio, Zenko, watch your little sister please while I set up the tent and start a fire for dinner." You ordered.

"Yes, Mama!" They yelled. The twins had come to love their little sister, seeing her as a future playmate. You breathed a sigh of relief. Finally out of Glam Gas Land, you were starving and the last thing you needed to do was monitor your three kids even more closely. It took you perhaps thirty minutes to set up your simple tent, throw your stuff inside and gather the wood for a fire. In that time, you watched your children play together.

"Rawr! I'm a dragon and Chouko is the princess! You be the knight, Akio, and protect her!" Akio picked up Chouko a stick. She was almost too heavy for him, but he had been assigned to be her knight, so he couldn't let her down.

"Stay back, beast! Don't touch Princess Chouko!"

"Chouko!" Chouko cheered out. She was saying a few words here and there, but couldn't quite get the hang of real sentences yet. As you attempted to start the fire, you watched Akio get more and more tired. Chouko was a chunky baby after all, and even you got tired when you held her.

"Do you want me to take her back now, boys? The fire is just about started. We'll have kebabs for dinner." You called out. In fact, you were going to have kebabs for basically any dinner while you camped out. They were the easiest thing for you to make, especially since your kids didn't eat meat.

"Mama! Mama! Tell us a story!" Zenko ran up, leaving his siblings in the dust. Astounded by this rapid abandonment, Akio set Chouko down, took her hand gently and led her towards the now growing fire.

"Hmm. A story? What kind of a story?"

"A real one." Akio said quietly as he sat down with his sister.

"Real? How so?" You wondered by your children wanted to hear a 'real story' so to say. Was something wrong with your fairy tales?

"One about Daddy." Zenko nodded in approval.

Oh, oh, oh. They miss him, so they want to talk about him. You thought to yourself. "Well... What if we get dinner ready and as it cooks and as I feed Chouko, I tell you the story of how we met? Your children cheered, as you pulled out some vegetables and a chunk of tofu.

"Akio, break the tofu into small pieces, please." You handed him the tofu and a bowl. Zenko whined, wanting a job to do as well. You sighed. Life with twins is split perfectly down the middle.

"Zenko..." You couldn't have him chop vegetables, or mix anything liquid, or tend the fire, or hold the skewers... "Could you..." You sighed. "Gather some more wood for the fire? I'll put these kebabs together quickly and then we can start the story." Quickly, you chopped the vegetables and slid them onto the skewers. Placing them in a pan in the fire, you whipped up the soy sauce mixture for dipping. Finally, you sat down and gathered your kids around you. You stripped off your sons' shirts, not wanting to clean them later, and prepared yourself to nurse Chouko. After everyone had grabbed a kebab and began eating, you cleared your throat and began your story.