I lead Trinh to one of the smaller mess halls on an upper floor. Earlier this morning, I put out a request to reserve this room for our date. It speaks to Trinh’s popularity on the ship that several Cerasteans and humans offered to decorate the space as a surprise for her.
Trinh’s face lights up when she sees the lone table in the middle of the room covered in a cream tablecloth, topped with lit tapered candles. I make a mental note to get each person who helped a token of my appreciation. Someone even managed to get a small vase of flowers from Trinh’s garden.
“I have a surprise for you,” I say, as I tug Trinh past the table she’s stopped to admire and over to the food replicator.
“Really? What’s the surprise?”
I click through the menu and point to a new section I had added just for Trinh. Trinh leans over and squints at the new items. She gasps loudly and suddenly straightens up, staring up at me in shock. Looking back at the menu, she starts scrolling through the items.
“Oh. My. God. You added so many choices!” she squeals. “Summer rolls! Vermicelli! Pho! You even got rice porridge! How did you do this?”
Trinh suddenly turns and wraps me in a tight hug. Over the months Trinh has been on the ship, I have heard her complain several times how there was not a single Vietnamese dish available in the replicator menu.
“Seriously. How did you get all this?”
“I had a restaurant on Earth deliver their best dishes to the nearest healing center, and then I had a friend scan each item into the system,” I explain. “I was lucky. My friend in the healing center owed me a favor. It took him most of the day to get each item properly scanned so the replicator can duplicate the dishes. You ready to eat?”
“What should I get? I don’t know what to pick!”
“Let’s get one of everything,” I suggest.
“I don’t want to waste the food. I was raised never to waste food. My mom would smack us with her house slipper if she saw us wasting so much food.”
“You forget. Whatever we don’t finish, we can dispose of in the reprocessor, and it will return to its atomic components. Nothing is wasted. So, let’s try it all. I want to experience all of your people’s food with you.”
I lead her to a seat and assist her into it, then I ferry all the various dishes to the table.
“We look like we have our own personal all-you-can-eat buffet laid out before us.” Trinh giggles as I sit next to her at the overloaded table. I have to move the flowers elsewhere to fit the last dish on the table.
Trinh shows me how she likes her pho soup with lots of lime, bean sprouts, and cilantro. She leaves out all but a few of the basil leaves because she claims it overpowers the delicate broth. She shows me how to customize the dish to my specific taste with as much or as little of the condiments as I want.
“Wow! This grilled pork reminds me of my favorite restaurant,” Trinh exclaims while eating some kind of noodle dish.
“Everything is from Saigon Noodle and Grille from your hometown,” I tell her.
“What? That’s my favorite restaurant!” Trinh squeals. “I’ve missed it so badly! How did you know?”
“Well, I had some help,” I say. Trinh raises a skeptical eyebrow and waits for me to explain. “I called your parents.”
She gasps in horror. “You called my parents! Oh god, no. Did you talk to my mother?”
“Um. Yes, I talked to both of your parents. They told me your favorite restaurant and mentioned a few dishes to make sure I included in the order.”
“Did you tell them it was for a date with me?” Trinh asks, reaching forward and clutching my arm in a claw-like fist.
“I did. Your mother had many questions for me. I answered them to the best of my ability.”
Trinh thumps her head down on the table and moans like a dying creature. “Do you know what you’ve done? You’ve released the kraken! She’s never gonna leave us alone. She is the most interfering, opinionated woman in the whole galaxy. Did she ask if you were going to marry me? She did, didn’t she? You don’t even have to answer that, I can tell by the constipated look on your face. I swear, if she said anything about making an honest woman out of me, I will head back to Earth just to murder her.”
I decide the best course of action is to distract Trinh from the phone call I had made to her parents earlier today.
“What is this dish called?” I ask, pointing to a soup with a reddish-colored broth.
“Hmmm?” Trinh asks, raising her head from the table. “Oh, that’s bun bo hue. You’ll like that one. It’s spicy.”
Trinh
I decideto let L’Corte distract me from my brooding thoughts. The inevitable phone call from my mother is looming, and I don’t want to contemplate the upcoming interrogation when I’d rather focus on this fine-ass alien. Tomorrow’s problems can take a back seat. Today is a gift I don’t want to waste on worry. Looking around the crowded table, my heart fills with happiness. I can’t believe L’Corte went to so much effort to get all my favorite foods.
