Note: This was written when the author was going through COVID, so there are more discription in hospital scenes than that of the food.
Night 53: Absinthe, Steamed Fowlbeast Eggs and Blini with Honey
The Late Night Diner is a part of Rhodes Island's canteen. That goes without saying – to whom had anyone ever heard of a diner in the boiler room?
As the name implies, it opens around midnight. There are only a handful of customers at a time.
Operators off their night shift could take an order and bring back to their quarters. Night owls could sit dining-in while leeching off the Diner's wi-fi. The Doctor would come for instant noodles from time to time.
Drinks are in the cooler. Anyone burdened by their own thoughts could take one and chug it down, anytime.
Menu? No such thing exists. What the Chef prepares is what you get. It all depends on his mood of the day.
Welcome to the Rhodes Island Late Night Diner. In here, you might even meet a familiar face or two.
It happened rather quickly. At first it was mere coughs before bed. But only a single day later her body temperature had reached to over a hundred. The Feline nurse changed the wet towel on Zoya's forehead with a cold one and caressed her boiling cheeks. "You are having it really bad...You can't do this to yourself in the future, got it? You need to learn to take care of yourself. It'd cost more than your health if you don't."
"Yes...sorry..." The little cub's voice is faint, and streaks of sweat rolled down her head and sticked to the strands of her hair. "My apologies...I know I had caused lots of trouble for everyone..."
"No need for that. Rest easy now." The nurse said, and poured a cup of water on the night stand. "Drink the water in a bit. If something comes up just call us with the button on your bedside. Don't hold it in all by yourself, alright?"
When she stepped out of the ward, the nurse gazed at the young cub curled up under the sheets and sighed.
"What's the matter with that kid?" an Aegier nurse who were also assigned to Zoya crossed her arms and said in an unhappy tone. "I had seen her more than once being sent to the infirmary covered in minor injuries. What did she do to herself this time?"
"Okay, okay, you don't need to work yourself up like that." The Feline medic shook her head with a knowing smile. "I heard she was one of the imprisoned students during the Chernoberg Incident. She worked really, really hard after the company took her in, no matter it was studying or her tasks assigned by the Medical or the Logistics...just that she's too hard on herself. She always thought that she was not good enough, and she always wanted to do more. She even downplayed her achievements and denied some of her accomplishments..."
"So, she's...ugh." The Aegier nurse took a sharp inhale and spoke. "Dr. Warfarin had reminded us to be especially careful about the mental health of the Ursus students. I thought she was..."
"Not acting like a student?" The Feline nurse chuckled. "She had probably done more work for the Medical than both of us combined. She volunteered for the care of flu patients, and that's how she got ill. Let's be on our way now." The Feline dragged her colleague by the arm when she saw her was still staring at Zoya on the other side of the glass. "I know someone who knows what to prepare for the cub's supper."
"...Who would that be?" The young Aegier was perplexed.
"You'll know once you have more overnight shifts."
Having a fever was never among the memories worth remembering. It felt like someone was drilling a hole in your skull, and even your body was soaked with sweat you still felt icy cold all over. You turn over and over, trying to find a comfortable posture to sleep, and the next time you opened your eyes, you found that the arms of the clock did not change at all...At present moment, Zoya felt that her entire being was drenched. The soggy sheets stuck to her skin like an inescapable cocoon; as if a searing blade was slashing inside her throat, she felt unbearable pain whenever she breathed. She knew that she had to rest, though the moment she closed her eyes, she felt a great pressure on her eyeballs like a pair of hands pressing hard on her eyelids. In that room, in the dark, she thought she had gone back to that never-ending winter, standing before the school building reeked vile charred smell and looking at that tattered, almost unidentifiable police uniform.
When she was young, her father had always been by her side. Whenever she had a fever, her mother would always sit by her bed. She would place a cold wet towel on her forehead and feed her orange flavoured medicine with a spoon. Zoya liked the scent of the medicine, and told her mother that she would like to "always have fevers". Because whenever she did, she could taste the sweet medicine.
Zoya's appetite was weak when she was sick. Her mother would always make steamed beaten fowlbeast eggs. Beat fowlbeast eggs with some water and cystmilk added in, then the fluid was filtered through cheesecloth. Add a pinch of salt or Yan soy sauce and put to a steamer, the resulting dish would be swaying like jelly in the bowl and tender to the tongue. Zoya would eat it with a small spoon. She always remembered that the bowl had a chip on it – it was her doing when she was but a toddler.
There would be a layer of liquid residue on the semi-solid surface. It'd look amber in colour, and when she took a piece with her spoon the inside of the dish would always look golden-white. The juice would always pool into the small dip left behind by the spoon. Zoya would always leave the first bite to her mother, even with high fever. When her mother took it with a smile on her face, she would then take over the spoon and the bowl, and wolf down the smooth and delicious steamed eggs.
"Zoya is a strong girl" – her father had always said so. He would lean in and plant a kiss on her small forehead, and tell her she's brave and would turn better with the turn of the day. When her fever had subsided, he would always cook tasty blini – with extra honey in the batter and grilled golden and crispy in the skillet. Her mother would sit before the table and sing a lovely folk song, and father would carry her over his shoulder and sang and danced around the dining table. Zoya would share her blini with her parents, and everyone would spread golden melted butter on them then drink up the sweet cystmilk with honey.
"Hey, do you think what that old cook would restore Zoya of her appetite?" The Aegier nurse with the filled bento box in hand, muttered to herself with doubt. "... though it smells divine!... makes me feel hungry..."
"Trust me on this. Nobody on the landship would doubt the boss's cooking." Her Feline colleague carefully pushed open the door to Zoya's room, and signaled her companion to hand the box to her. "Shh. Zoya is sleeping. I'll give it to her."
"Brrr...it's cold in here." With the door closed quietly behind her, the Aegier nurse stood and stomped her feet. "Was it cold inside as well? And how was she doing?"'
"Better now. Her fever had come down. I put the food in the warmer and left her a note." Her collegue said, checking the thermostat beside the door. "It was warm inside. Though you are wearing just a shirt. You are bound to feel the chill."
"How could I know the winter weather could even seep through the hulls of the landship?" The Feline nurse handed her a coat. "Thanks." She said.
She turned once again and looked into the room through the window, looking at Zoya's frowning face with tightly shut eyes. "Just look at the damn weather, with the flu going around too. When will it end?"
"Who knows." The Feline nurse answered with a slight shrug. "But the coldest of the days are always followed by the coming spring." She put her hand on the window and quietly hummed the song she learned from the the Ursus students.
"We sing.
We dance.
We hold hands.
Stepping on the cold earth.
Even now it's frozen.
When the time comes, when the time comes.
Bloom they shall,
The beautiful tiny flowers."