"Chocolate ice cream!" Maggie and Enid both yelled out and then fell back onto the swinging porch, laughing.
"Oh! Mint chocolate ice cream!" Maggie added, groaning wantonly.
"Gobstoppers.", Enid added.
Maggie looked at her puzzled, "Gobstoppers?'
"Yeah, kinda like jawbreakers."
"Oh."
"I liked chocolate in my candy." Maggie said, laying her head back on the chair.
"Candy?" Carl said inquisitively as he opened the porch chair and joined them on the porch swing.
"Yeah", Enid said, "Maggie has cravings and so we've been talking about our favorite foods."
Daryl cumbered up the stairs, kicking open the cooler and pulling out a bottle of beer, sitting down on a porch chair.
"How about you?" Enid asked.
"How about me what?" Daryl said gruffly, popping the lid open on bottle.
"What's your favorite food?"
Daryl took a sip from the bottle and grimaced. "I don't know about food but I'd kill for some decent beer".
Enid rolled her eyes.
Maggie sat up, "Well, what is your favorite food, Daryl?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Food's food. Never had no favorites."
"My mom used to make these baked scalloped potatoes." Maggie said, eyes dropping to the floor. "She'd make it and bring it church, family socials and she always made it on Christmas. After she died, dad tried to make it a couple of times and I did too but it never tasted like the way she made it."
Maggie turned to Carl, "How about you?"
"Food?" Carl asked.
"Mmm-hmm", she nodded, "did your mama ever make you something special?'
Carl shook his head. "I remember she used to burn food. A lot." He smiled slightly. "She wasn't a very good cook", he chuckled slightly. "We used to go to this restaurant though and they had these amazing pies."
"Chocolate cream", Carl said it dreamingly.
Maggie laughed, "You kids and your sweets!"
"I miss food!"
Glenn popped his head out of the door, "You hungry, babe?"
"Cravings!" she said, frustratingly.
Glenn chuckled and opened the door, "What kind?"
"Anything!" she said, "you wouldn't happen to have a pizza, would ya?"
Glenn's face slightly grimaced at the word, 'pizza' and Carl caught on; "You don't like pizza?" he asked.
"I delivered them" Glenn said, leaning back on the wall.
"You must have ate a lot", Enid mused.
"You have no idea", Glenn said, shaking his head.
"I dated a girl…" he stopped quickly, looking nervously at Maggie.
"Yes? Go on….you dated a girl…" Maggie said, with a teasing smile.
Glenn went on, "I knew a girl" he paused a moment and looked matter-of-factly towards Maggie and then continued "…at the pizza place who used to give me the pizzas that couldn't be sold. You know, if they messed up the toppings or something. I ate so much." He shook his head.
Carl inhaled deeply and said "pizza", almost as if he could conjure one up just by saying the word and it would appear in the midst of them. "I can almost smell it", he said, sniffing the air.
Awhile passed with the five of them just relaxing on the porch, trying to keep cool. It was a hot summer day, Georgia hot, and there wasn't much point to doing any work in the yards of Alexandria with the high temperatures. Walking the perimeter and keeping watch were the only major things that needed to be done.
The five were lost in their thoughts and so when Maggie spoke and said, "Daryl, you sure you don't have any favorite foods?" Everyone jumped slightly and looked towards him.
"Naw." He said, hesitantly.
"Well", he quickly added, "There was this one tavern. My brudder and I used to go to, when we was just kids. We'd hang out in the back and wait for dad to come out. The lady who owned the tavern, she musta felt sorry for our skinny 'ol asses 'cause she'd bring out a couple of plates of biscuits and gravy. It'd be covered in pepper and it was awful good and…." Daryl's voice faded.
He looked up and saw them listening intently. Daryl had never shared much about his past and just never spoke much in general so when he did speak, everyone would listen.
The faces staring at him made him uncomfortable, "That's all, just biscuits and gravy" he said quietly, rubbing the bottom of the beer bottle back and forth on his knee.
"Well that sounds delicious", Maggie said.
"I'd go for some of that" Glenn said, licking his lips. "That one made me hungry."
Just as he said it, a bell rang.
"Ah, that's Carol. She said she'd ring it when dinner was ready." Maggie said, standing up and stretching.
"Do you know what she made for dinner, Maggie?" Enid asked.
"Casserole!", they all said at the same time.