"Hey, how am I supposed to know," Cameron grumbled. "I'm not Catholic. I was doing the," he did the cross thing again and tried to ignore when Maile laughed outright, "because your woman said that Maile was swearing like a sailor."
Pallas turned his startled gaze to his wife. "Sailor?"
Kawehi sat up and frowned at him. "What's wrong with that? It's an idiom."
Maile lifted her chin at them. "See? Even Kawehi knows that you're an idiot."
"Idiom." Kawehi reached across the table and lightly smacked Maile's hand. "I said idiom. It's the turn of a phrase."
Maile shrugged. "He's still doing it wrong."
Pallas shook his head. "Honey, please. Don't link our family to sailors, okay?"
Maile sighed. "What is this thing you have against sailors, anyway."
Kawehi shook her head. "It's a Marines and Navy thing."
Maile waved them over. "Just sit down and eat."
Cameron moved toward the table and moved to the far side to sit. He heard Maile grumbling under her voice.
"I'll never get this grudge thing y'all have with the other military branches."
"It's not our fault that the other branches suck." He sat down beside Maile and took the bowl she handed him.
He looked down into the bowl and frowned.
Picking up the spoon beside it, he poked at the thing inside the bowl. He recognized the stew base, carrots, potatoes, but the web-like thing mixed in it?
Nope.
Maile leaned over and when he looked up at her face, he saw the almost devious smile directed at him. "You look... confused."
"What," he leaned closer, not wanting Kawehi to hear his question, "is this in the stew?"
Maile scooped up a heaping spoonful of the questionable meat-like substance and brought it close to her lips. "Tripe stew."
"Tripe?" He'd heard the word somewhere. "What animal is tripe?"
He must have said the words a little too loud because Kawehi laughed... or rather, she coughed and laughed at the same time, almost choking on her food.
Pallas got up out of his chair and moved to her side, rubbing her back.
Kawehi recovered quickly enough, picking up her paper napkin to dab at her eyes. "What animal?"
Cameron looked at Pallas and saw the hint of a smile on his lips. "What!"
"Just take a bite." Pallas' tone was enough to sound like an order.
Cameron shrugged and put a piece of the tripe in his mouth and chewed. After a few moments, he nodded and swallowed. "It's... odd. But tasty."
Using his spoon, he took up another spoonful and put it in his mouth, chewing happily.
"Tripe," Maile watched him chewing and she smiled from ear to ear, "is cow."
He pushed the food to the side of his mouth so he could speak. "I thought you said it was tripe."
"Tripe, is cow."
