"Mmm, this stuff, whatever it is, is really good!" Carl commented through mouthfuls of Hoppin' John. The bones of the roasted pieces of goose had been picked clean and everyone was now focusing on the side dish.
"You sound surprised," Tyreese said. "You mean to tell me that you grew up in Georgia and never had black-eyed peas before?"
"I don't think so…" Carl hesitated.
"Maybe," Rick interjected with a small grin, "he was served not only black-eyed peas, but also English peas, green beans, broccoli and Brussels sprouts Back In The Day but he never ate them. He'd shove them all around his plate, hide them under his dinner roll, et cetera…"
"So it appears that someone used to be a very fussy eater," Michonne said with a big smile as she stared directly at Carl.
He involuntarily squirmed in his seat at her gaze. "I ate vegetables!" He protested.
"Yeah, mashed potatoes, French fries, cream-style corn and sometimes whole kernel corn. That was it," Rick replied.
"To be honest," Tara said, "how many of us ate green vegetables as kids?" She looked around the table. "I remember loving canned corn, even though I preferred cream-style. I managed to choke down green beans by almost swallowing them whole so that I didn't have to taste them."
Gabriel spoke up. "I'd almost forgotten about those days of my youth…when Mama served snap peas or string beans along with dinner and I was expected to eat everything on my plate." He seemed to gulp back a sob. "No one forced my parents to eat things they didn't like, why punish a child for not eating things that made them gag…"
Sasha saw the tears in Gabriel's eyes and tried to divert attention from him. "I remember our Mama boiling mustard greens…even after she added a ham hock they still tasted bitter to me and I'd shove them aside on my plate and just eat the bits of pork."
"Don't even make me think about Brussel sprouts," Abraham grimaced. "Little tiny cabbages…stunk up the house all to hell and tasted like…well, nasty. But Mom insisted they were good for you…. Yeah, what? Good to make you puke?"
"Cabbage," Daryl muttered. He looked up from his plate to see everyone gazing at him. "Never liked cabbage," he explained, "and so many places included cole slaw as a side dish. Time was you couldn't even just get a darned cheeseburger at the local greasy spoon without them putting a scoop of cole slaw on the side. Polluted the whole plate," he added with a grimace.
"Cabbage…I feel you," Glenn chimed in. "When I was growing up my grandmother was known for her kimchi, a traditional Korean dish. But I couldn't stand the stuff until I was a teenager…and even then I didn't really like it, I could just eat it without choking. You wanna talk bitter? This is cabbage fermented in vinegar and carrots and radishes…." He closed his eyes and shuddered at the memory.
"Dude, you're making my eyes water just talkin' about it," Tara said.
"it seems that an aversion to green vegetables is a typical childhood trait," Eugene commented, trying to divert his own mind from Abrahams's mention of "puke" and fermented cabbage.. "I, myself, never cared for broccoli or even iceberg lettuce as a youngster. I did, however, love corn on the cob. It begs the question as to the color of the vegetables and its overall appeal…"
"I don't think it's because corn is yellow and broccoli is green," Maggie spoke up. "Corn has a natural sweetness. Look at the jars of baby food we've collected," she added. "Judith never pushes back the spoon when it's corn or sweet potato, but when it's mushed peas she spits it out when we manage to get a spoonful in her mouth.
"Interesting when you think about it," Allison remarked. Everyone looked at her. "Learned behavior versus, I don't know, biology I guess. What I mean is that since Judith was born into this New World she very quickly adapted behaviorally in many ways – for example, somehow or other she eventually learned at a very young age not to cry so as not to attract Walkers. But yet there is something apparently inherent in the human tongue that still prefers sweet tastes versus bitter."
"For Christ's sake, Gracie, can you just for once in your life speak in plain English?" Merle sighed in exasperation. He had other things on his mind and wasn't particularly in the mood for one of Allison's scientific discussions.
"I think," Eugene said slowly, as if he was considering her comment, "what the good Doctor is saying is that perhaps there is a scientific reason for why children don't enjoy the taste of most green vegetables. Perhaps infants are hard-wired to accept and enjoy sweet flavors as natural means for growth. Sugary foods give babies energy which helps them to learn to crawl and eventually walk and grab objects and other tactile functions."
"Well, however you spell it, this stuff is delicious even though it's got weeds in it," Abraham replied as he scooped up another forkful of stew.
"Who wants more? We need to finish all of this, there's no dessert," Sasha asked, holding the large pot aloft.
There was no shortage of requests for thirds and fourths of what remained of dinner. Sasha scraped out the last of the stew into Carl's bowl and then excused herself to take it to the sink to clean it.
"What time is it?" Michonne asked Abraham.
He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was a little after 11 o'clock. "How'd it get that late?" He asked aloud.
"We started dinner later than usual," Michonne replied.
"And some of us got to gabbing a bit…" Allison added with an innocent smile.
"Well, when everyone is finished, we'll start collecting the plates and stuff to wash them," Michonne as she started to pick up forks and knives, "and since it's getting close to midnight, maybe we can crack open a bottle of wine we found in our stash of 'stuff' to ring in the New Year."
"Cool!" Carl shouted.
"No wine for you, young man," Michonne said sternly.
"Maybe he can have a sip," Rick remarked, looking at his son who'd grown up about three years in the space of one.
At the mention of wine everyone sat back in their chairs and declared that they were through with dinner. Some of the men even helped to collect the dishes and cutlery. Tara was filling one sink with sudsy water to soak the pots and pans, and Maggie was using another sink to wash and rinse the plates and utensils. Allison set the clean plates in the drainer and the cutlery in the drawer as Maggie handed them off to her.
"Looks like this is the last of it," Sasha told them as she handed Maggie two last dinner plates. "I'll start setting out the wine glasses," she added. The other women chuckled – the glassware Sasha started loading onto a tray were the type used for orange juice in the morning, not for fine Cabernet.
"I just hope those two bottles we found are still good and don't taste like vinegar by now," Tara said, scrubbing out a stew pot. "How long does it take before wine goes bad?"
"We got them from the cellar of a pretty upscale house," Allison replied. "I don't know a whole lot about wine, but these bottles have actual corks instead of screw tops, so I'm thinking they'll still be good."
Around 11:40 everyone was seated back at the table. The glasses had been distributed, and Michonne handed Rick a corkscrew to give him the honor of opening the first bottle of wine. Everyone cheered when the cork made an audible "pop" noise as it was removed. "Too bad we don't have some desert to go with this fine wine," Rick remarked as folks passed their glasses to him.
"But we do!" Everyone turned toward the voice that had called out. Beth was walking toward them with a big grin and a "family size" package of Kit-Kat candy bars.
"Where did you…" Tyreese started to ask and then remembered, "Oh yeah, that one place in…" He paused, suddenly realizing it was it the same subdivision where they'd found Noah's deceased family. "A while ago," he awkwardly finished.
"It's not cheesecake or any fancy desert, but it's still chocolate!" Beth said as she ripped open the large bag and passed the candy bars around the table.
There was suddenly a strange rasping noise that caused everyone to pause and look over their shoulders for Walkers. A moment later Michonne noticed that it was Judith, sound asleep sitting up in her chair and snoring like a lumberjack. "She takes after her Daddy," Michonne murmured with a sidelong glance at Rick. Rick actually blushed in response and lowered his head for a moment.
"Should we put her in bed?" He asked.
"No, I think she's fine where she is," Michonne replied. "Picking her up and carrying her to the room would probably disturb her sleep."
"It's getting closer to midnight, should we think about toasts?" Tara asked.
"If we do start offering toasts, we should probably do it quietly, so that we don't wake the baby," Sasha said softly.
"She fell sound asleep while we were talking in normal tones," Michonne said, "I think she'll be able to nap through a few rounds of 'Auld Land Syne'."
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes and then Glenn spoke up. "Some of us have been together longer than others, but just the fact that we are all still here, together, deserves a toast I think." He raised his glass.
Tyreese commented as he clinked his glass against those sitting nearby, "I remember those early days, when Sasha and I and our small group were just constantly on the run, barely living hand to mouth… At that time it seemed like a miracle to find a community, a safe place."
"I remember being back at the quarry with some of y'all," Carol spoke up. "Back then it seemed like it just a matter of hours before we'd all be attacked and bitten. I didn't really feel like maybe there was a future – like some of us would actually 'make it' until we were at Hershel's farm."
Abraham looked at his watch, which had a second hand among its various displays. "Gettin' near countdown time," he announced.
"I think," Gabriel said, "as the last minutes of this year wind down and we enter the New Year, we should all remember how much we've accomplished so far and how much we can accomplish in the days to come. We've proven that we can survive with the various skills and expertise and dedication of what is now our family."
"Get ready," Abraham announced, staring at his watch. He raised his glass and everyone followed his lead. "Ten, nine, eight…"
Everyone joined in the countdown and shouted a joyous "Happy New Year!" at the stoke of midnight. There were hugs and kisses all around, while Judith slept soundly as they entered a brand new year, in blissful ignorance of the significance of the occasion.