Three months later...

Skye's eyes flew open and she sat straight up in bed with one thing on her mind. Vegemite. Her mouth was watering and all she knew was that she had to have Vegemite right away or she was going to die. Reaching over, she shook her husband.

"Jeffrey. Jeffrey!" He murmured something and rolled over. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was 1:30 in the morning. No wonder he didn't want to wake up. Too bad, because she needed that Vegemite.

"Jeffrey!" Picking up her pillow, she raised it about her head, and slammed it down on his head. Hard. That did it.

Jolting awake, he sputtered at her, looking absolutely shocked. "Skye! What was that for? What time is it?"

"It's one thirty. I need Vegemite."

He blinked. "What?"

"I need some Vegemite or I am going to fall over and die."

"What is Vegemite?"

"Australian yeast jelly."

"What do you want with that?!"

"I'm craving it!"

"Oh, gosh. Here we go. Do we have any?"

"Vegemite? No, why would we? I tried it while I was in Australia, and I hated it, but I have to have it right now."

Sighing, he threw back the covers and rolled out of bed. Grabbing his clothes out of the dresser, he headed for the bathroom. "Get dressed, then. We'll go try and find some."

She beamed and hurried after him.

"Excuse me, Sir. Do you have any Vegemite?"

The young man looked at her like she was crazy. "What?"

"Vegemite. Do you have any?"

"What is Vegemite?"

Jeffrey, obviously the one with the most patience, stepped forward. "It's this Australian paste made out of yeast."

Skye nodded. "It comes in this little yellow plastic jar."

The grocery clerk just stared at them, looking slightly alarmed. "Umm. I don't know if we carry that, but it would probably be on aisle nine."

Jeffrey opened his mouth to thank him, but Skye was already dragging him away by the wrist.

"Come on, Jeffrey. Let's go find it!"

Siding around the corner onto aisle nine, she practically ran down the row, scanning the shelves for yellow plastic jars. They didn't find any. She stood there, staring at the floor, feeling extremely discouraged and very, very desperate.

Jeffrey, trying very hard and rather unsuccessfully to keep a straight face, pulled her into a hug. "Oh, Skye. Don't worry. We'll just have to try another store, that's all."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Do you know that I had a whole jar of pickles in the refrigerator and two tubes of ice cream in the freezer in preparation for this day? I wish now I'd thought to stock up on Vegemite..."

She laughed and pecked him in the lips. Let's go try Safeway."

Four hours later...

"Okay, let's see. We've been to Albertson's, Safeway, Ralph's, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Pavilions, Bristol Farms, Costco, and the Hong Kong Supermarket. None of them carry Vegemite. Can we please give up now, Skye?"

The two were sitting on a park bench, watching the sun rise and trying to figure out what to do next. It was a cold April morning and Jeffrey wanted nothing more than to go back home and crawl into his warm bed. Skye, however, wasn't going to hear about it.

"Not yet, please, Jeffrey?! I have to have some Vegemite!"

"I know, but no one carries it. I'll tell you what. I'll order you some on Amazon when we get home."

"But then it won't get here for a few more days. I hate to be high maintenance, Jeffrey, but I don't know what I'll do if I have to wait that long. These cravings are almost painful!"

"Alright, but I'm out of ideas."

"Did we look to see of there are any Australian supermarkets here?"

"Yeah. The nearest one is two states away."

"Right. Oh! Did we look for Australian restaurants?"

He looked at her, unable to believe that they had been that stupid. That should have been the first thing that they looked for. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he plugged in Australian restaurants in Boston. Only one came up. KO Catering and Pies. Thankful that they opened early, he turned to his wife.

"Come one, let's go check this place out."

A small bell rang to signal their arrival into the restaurant. It was empty except for one lady sitting behind the counter, reading. She looked up and smiled at them.

"G'day. Can I help you?" Her accent was thick, but she had a bright voice.

"Um, yes please. This is sort of a strange question at 5:30 in the morning, but do you any Vegemite for sale?"

"I don't mean to be a sticky beak, but what do you need Vegemite for?"

Jeffrey laughed and Skye stuck her tongue out at him. He just smiled and and explained. "My wife's pregnant and she has an unquenchable craving for the stuff. I've never tried it."

The young woman chuckled, nodding. "Got it. We don't usually sell it, but we do 'ave some in the back. I'll go see what I can do."

She came back a few minutes later, smiling. "We 'ave ten cases."

"How many jars are in a case?"

"A d'zen."

"Could we buy some of those off of you, by any chance?"

"Sure thing. How many do you want?"

"Um. How much are they?"

"It's usually about ten bickies a case."

"Bickies?" He looked at Skye, hoping she could explain.

"Dollars," she muttered out of the side of her mouth. The saleswoman smiled.

"Oh, okay." He pulled out his wallet and handed her a hundred dollar bill. "I'll give you a hundred for eight cases if you can spare them."

"Eight! G'grief! Don't be a drongo! What are you going to do with ninety-six jars of Vegemite, mate?!"

"I'm sure Skye will devour them, and who knows? I might develop a taste for the stuff myself."

"Alrighty, then. I'll go and get 'em."

She disappeared again, and he turned to look at his wife. She was grinning and licking her lips. "Thanks, Jeffrey."

"Of course! Don't be a 'drongo', whatever that is. You're my wife, and you more than deserve it. Besides, now I can sleep easily, knowing that we have enough Vegemite to last us through the next six months. Now I can relax and enjoy watching you stuff yourself with yeast jelly."

But that's where he was wrong.

An hour later...

"Skye, can you please not eat that so close to me? If I get one more whiff of that stuff I am going to puke."

They we sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Jeffrey however, had his eyes transfixed on Skye, who was holding a yellow plastic jar in one hand and a spoon in the other, and shoveling yeast paste into her mouth like it was mana. She was already on her third jar.

"Why? Don't you like Vegemite?"

"No."

"Have you ever tried it?"

"No."

An evil smirk took over her face. "Well, we can't have you passing judgements on something you've never had, now can we." She slid closer to him, scooping up a large spoonful.

"Skye, get that disgusting stuff away from me!"

"Not happening, mate. Come one, just have a little bite."

He clamped his lips shut and shook his head. "U-uh."

"Just a little-bitty bit, Jeffrey."

He shook his head so hard he thought it might snap off. Still, she advanced with the spoon. "Oh, come on. Open up."

And then she grabbed his nose, squeezing it shut and cutting off his oxygen flow. Left with no other option, he open his mouth to take a quick breath, but she was faster.

Before he knew what was happening, a spoonful of Vegemite was deposited in his mouth, and he was swallowing. Her laughter overrode his gagging as he rushed to the restroom. Oh, why couldn't she have stuck to pickled and ice cream like a normal woman?!

Have you ever tried Vegemite? If not, you should go buy some. On toast or something like that it actually isn't too bad, but you NEVER want to eat it by the spoonful. Yuck! :-)

Guest - Thank you! Kudos to you for being the only one with enough gumption to review. :-) JK.