And I will protect them with everything I have.Everything.
“The professional taste testers have given me ten gold stars!” Alara says, waltzing into the living room. “And you can all please come and sit at the dinner table.”
“One hundred and infinity stars!” Kira sings as she follows in behind Alara.
“Infinity isn’t a number,” Kelsey informs her. “One million stars."
“Infinityisa very special number, actually…” I say thoughtfully. “It’s all the numbers in the entire world and more. Never-ending numbers. Do you remember when we tried to count the stars, and they never ended? There were more and more and more of them?”
“Yes?” Kelsey scrunches her nose.
“Well, that is sort of like infinity.”
“So, infinity isn’t more than a million,” she says confidently.
“It is,” I nod. “It’s a million and another million and another million,” I laugh.
“Oh, then infinity gold stars,” Kelsey declares.
“I told you!” Kira chirps.
“Oh, I forgot the mint,” Alara says. But she is holding the carving knife and getting ready to cut the duck for us.
“I’ll get it,” I tell her, turning towards the kitchen.
“Thank you!” she calls after me.
As I walk into the kitchen, Roger jumps up, startled and looking horribly guilty.
He spins to face me, then holds his hand over his heart and breathes a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness,” he mutters.
“What’s going on?” I ask, confused.
“I thought it was Alara,” he whispers.
“Okay?” I say cautiously.
He steps aside and quietly shows me what he was trying to hide.
An entire duck, on anidenticaloven dish, that he is busythrowing away!
“What are you doing?” I hiss in horror at the utter waste of food.
“I had to. Didn’t Mr. Belov warn you?”
“No?” I whisper, not knowing why we are whispering.
“Taste,” he says, breaking off a small piece and offering it to me.
I take it from him and pop it into my mouth. Instantly, I'm gagging and spitting it back into my hand. “It tastes like dish soap,” I say, trying to wipe the flavor off my tongue.
“I made a secret roast duck in the scullery. But Miss Alara can’t know.”
Suddenly, I understand everything, and can’t stop giggling.
Roger starts laughing too, shaking his head at how ridiculous it all is.
“That is so bad!” I whisper, laughing some more.
