When the calendar said 31st October that morning, the group knew where they would be that evening. School was the same as any Friday and the evening's events were not mentioned or discussed. Yet, as the day passed into evening and early night, they all met in their club-house; a little clearing in the woods with a circle of thick logs around a camp-fire. It was a cold October evening, and even though the wind was still, every club-member cradled a little steaming metal cup for warmth.
Clara had gone one further. A great big cardboard box sat outside the circle. Ripping it open revealed a lot of little plastic pots with bread-sticks and some cream-cheese. Her father had found a sale or something, she explained.
Clara launched into the story for the evening and everyone grabbed a cheese-dipper as the box was ferried around the circle.
The story of...
A Dairy Good Idea
"See ya tomorrow, Earl!" Jake shouted across the street as the two families parted. Turning back, Jake followed his own family towards the shopping mall. It was a Monday evening and the Hatrow family was out grocery-shopping. They had barely entered before he hurried off and headed for the dairy section. As he searched the aisle of cheese and milk for the items on his list, he heard shouting behind him.
"Young man, you look like someone that knows their cheese!"
Jake turned to see who had shouted. A little further down the aisle a stall had been set up. It had a fine wooden surface loaded with various cheeses, the Swiss Cheese-shaped sign above it saying New Wickenham Corner Store. The word Tyromancer was written in bold red font below it. A tall uniformed man crewed the stall, his hair and beard a mix of brown and ginger. His eyes were bright green and positively sparkling with amusement, a characteristic that matched his wide smile full of gleaming white teeth.
Jake briefly scanned the aisle around him, but there were no one else around. He pointed sheepishly to himself. "You mean me, mister?"
"Yes, you! Would you care to sample one of our new cheeses?" His voice reminded Jake of TV commercials, full of sparkle and energy, though this seemed more genuine than any TV commercial he could remember. He put the brie he had picked up in his basket and walked over to the stall, eyeing up the displays. The products did look like they were good quality. Within his family he was easily the one with the most knowledge and love of cheese, something he tried to never mention at school. He could imagine the endless chants of 'Cheeseboy'.
The man leaned over the countertop as Jake approached, his smile widening even further. A tag on his uniform read 'Brian'. "I can recommend this Red Leicester or the Swiss." The two mentioned cheeses were pushed forward, each under its own little glass cheese-bell. In the bright mall-lighting Jake could just about make out the names of the individual cheeses in the glass.
He briefly looked at both suggestions as well as some of the others. One of the products caught his eye; a milky-white cheese with dark-blue patches. The glass lettering said Stilton. "That one." He pointed.
'Brian' followed the pointing finger. "Ah, interesting choice young sir," 'Brian' put a hand on the handle of the cheese-bell, "If I might ask, are you sure what you're in for with this fine specimen?"
"I have tried it before, yeah." Years ago, and his parents hadn't liked it. Said it would give him nightmares.
"Excellent then, just a moment." A special knife appeared in the man's hand and in a swift and elegant motion the cheese-bell was lifted, and a small slab of the cheese was sliced off. The cheese-bell was lowered again, and a paper plate was put before Jake, a plain wheat cracker alongside the piece of Stilton. "Here you are. Enjoy."
Already the smell of the Stilton was becoming quite intense, so Jake hurried and ate the Stilton-and-cracker whole. It was delicious. Strong without being overpowering. He liked it quite a lot.
"How much for the cheese I just tried?" He tried to remember just how much he had left in his allowance.
"The Stilton? That will be $4.99."
"I'll take one."
"As you wish, young sir." Brian reached down behind the stall before placing a sealed packet of Stilton on the counter.
As Jake took the cheese, he noticed the time. He had pretty much spent the time he'd been given for his list, so he quickly found the rest of the listed items and went to register number 5.
"Did you get everything?" His dad asked as he nearly ran up to the queue.
He nodded in silence as he put the items on the belt. The Stilton was last.
"What's that," His mother asked, "I don't remember writing this down." The Stilton was in her hand.
"It's something I found. You can just take it out of my allowance, it's only $4.99."
"Oh, alright then." His dad responded with a smile.
Jake was not quite sure how to treat the Stilton, so he repeated what 'Brian' had done in the mall when he had a bit of the pungent cheese as a snack, putting a little slice of it on a cracker. He went to bed early that night; tomorrow was a school-day too.
Mr. Harrison has a phone-call in the middle of class at 09:18am.
Mrs. Daunton has a history test on the Declaration of Independence. Jake does not get it right.