A strange aroma wafted through the air, circling, lingering, and settling around the campfire. The closer you got the worse it smelled. Three boys watched while the fourth stirred the pot.
“What’s in it?” asked Josh.
“Yeah! What is that awful smell?” asked Tommy as he held his nose.
“Billy! Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” asked Jason.
“Trust me,” answered Billy.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” replied Josh.
The boys were camping in Get Lost Woods. Tommy’s dad had dropped them off earlier with a promise to check on them later. They had put up their tent, built a fire, and were now watching Billy. They had drawn straws to see who cooked and Billy had drawn the short one.
“Wait until you taste it! You’re gonna love it!” he boasted.
“Who taught you how to cook?” asked Tommy.
“Where did you get the recipe?”
“I found the recipe in a copy of “Hoboes Journeys. I thought it would be easy to make,” he answered.
“You found it where?”
“Hoboes Journeys.”
“I never heard of it. Are you telling the truth?”
“I swear it’s true. I found the magazine in a stack of grandpa’s stuff. It was an old
magazine. It was dated 1923,” he answered.
“But what’s in it?”
“Tomato juice, black beans, carrots, peas, diced potatoes, and a secret ingredient. Oh! Yeah! I forgot. It has hot dogs in it.”
“That’s what was in the Tupperware container?”
“Uh-huh!”
“Guys! Look at the empty container.”
The boys were astonished by what they saw. The bowl was covered with flies. They would land, take a few steps and then fall over dead.
“What’s your secret ingredient?”
“I’m not tellin’ ya,” answered a defiant Billy.
“Hey, guys! Have you noticed there aren’t any mosquitos?”
“You’re right. Normally they’re thick in here. Wonder why not?” asked Jason.
“Look, there are clouds of them hovering all around us. But they are at least ten feet away,” pointed out Josh.
“Billy! Are you cooking supper or making mosquito repellent?”
“Ha! Ha! Very funny!” he sarcastically answered.
“I haven’t heard a bird or seen a critter since you started cooking,” teased Tommy.
Billy glared at all three of them. “You just wait until you taste it.”
“I don’t know about this. My eyes are watering so bad I can hardly see,” Jason said while wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeve.
“My sinuses are giving me fits. I can’t breathe!”
Billy ignored them and kept stirring.
“Ok, guys, I think it’s ready. Grab a bowl and I’ll dip you some.”
The boys looked at the pot, each other, and back at the pot. They were hungry, as most boys are, but they weren’t sure about this.
“Oh well, you only live once,” said Tommy as he handed his bowl to Billy.
The other boys followed suit, each taking a steaming bowl and sat down to eat.
Tommy put a spoonful in his mouth, grimaced, and spit it out, “Yuck! It’s terrible!”
Josh did the same, “Billy, are you trying to poison us?”
Jason got up, went to the edge of the camp, got fourteen mosquito bites, and threw up.
“C’mon, guys, it can’t be that bad,” said Billy before taking his first bite. He put a spoonful in his mouth and sputtered, “You’re right. It’s awful!”
“What was the secret ingredient? Rat poison?”
“Road kill?” cried Tommy.
“Come on, Billy, tell us,” pleaded Josh.
“Do we need to get our stomach pumps?” asked Jason.
“The secret ingredient is cheese. It called for sharp cheddar but we didn’t have any. I found some cheese in the back of the fridge. It was hidden behind a jar of beets. I grabbed it thinking it would work,” he answered.
“What kind is it?”
“I don’t know. I never heard of it before. It sounded good. Says it has burger in it.”
“Did you bring the package?”
“It’s by the bowl,” he answered.
Tommy retrieved the package, read the label, turned a sickly color of green ,and announced.
“It’s Limburger cheese!”
“Never heard of it.”
“Me either.”
“Is there an expiration date on the package?”
Tommy studied it and gasped.
“It’s three years old!”
“You gotta be kiddin’ me!”
“I wish I was,” answered Tommy.
“Do you suppose that green stuff on it was mold?”
“Billy!!!
June 24, 2023