Chapter 88 Round and Fat Fried Worms of Different Species
Lloyd noticed there's something wrong with the air in the camp after he got off the phone and returned to camp.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
Ebony shot him a glance but didn't reply to him.
Tristan and Kelly would like to make a response, but they had to swallow the words and pack up their things in silence after seeing Ebony's unkind look,.
Everyone set out ten minutes later.
Ebony walked in the forefront to lead the way.
They were walking all morning.
At noon, they found a creek to rest for a while.
Ebony's anger at Lloyd lasting a whole morning had gradually disappeared by noon.
While Kelly and Tristan were making lunch, Ebony had a blade of grass clamped between her teeth, walked to Lloyd, and sat down, saying, "Hey."
Ebony jutted her chin out in the direction of Kelly and Tristan and asked, "I heard they called you uncle. So you and them have known each other before, right?"
Lloyd said yes and did not hide it from her, "In terms of seniority, I'm their elder."
Ebony scratched her own cheek and asked in doubt, "So that's why they called me aunt?"
In a daze for a second after hearing her question, Lloyd looked at her.
Ebony raised her eyebrows and added, "Didn't you hear that? Kelly slipped the tongue several times. She called me aunt. But why did she call me aunt? I'm not her relative. Why didn't she just call me Ebony?"
Lloyd frowned and responded after a bit of silence, "They must have gotten it wrong."
Ebony stared at Lloyd in disbelief.
At this time, Kelly finished cooking and shouted, "Uncle! Aun... Ebony! It's time to eat."
Ebony said to Lloyd, "Listen, she called me aunt again."
Lloyd didn't reply to her. He got up and stretched out a hand towards her, trying to pull her up.
But Ebony rolled her eyes at him and ignored his kindness. She stood up on her own and walked towards Kelly.
The lunch they had was fruit coupled with some vegetable soup.
Tristan was at the age of eighteen which was exactly the time of physical growth, so that lunch was not enough for him at all.
After the meal, he went to get a canteen of stream water to allay his hunger.
Actually, Ebony was also not full. Since getting into the rain forest, she had been in a state of half-hunger.
But she was experienced in self-adjusting. She used to be at the Gibson family. Every time she left school late, she had no food to eat when she came home. For that reason, she grew accustomed to starvation.
"Aun...Ebony, here you are." Kelly took some water for Ebony.
Ebony took the canteen and took a sip.
Glancing at Kelly, Ebony was still curious and couldn't help asking, "Is it your hometown dialect? You call a woman several years elder than you aunt? I know that people in some remote villages do it."
Kelly opened her eyes wide in surprise. In the morning, Ebony had asked her this question, but she didn't answer it. So she's been restless all day.
She didn't expect that Ebony had been thinking about it all the time and came up with that ridiculous answer!
She echoed, "Yes, you're right. It's common to call female elders aunt in my hometown!"
Ebony frowned and sighed, "It's really strange."
Kelly explained, "It's vernacular, just vernacular."
Ebony stared at Kelly for a while, and then stood up suddenly.
Kelly thought that she had a valid reason, so she bravely called, "Aunt, where are you going?"
Hearing that Kelly called Ebony aunt, Lloyd, who was resting under the tree, and Tristan, who was getting water by the stream, suddenly raised their heads at the same time to look towards Kelly.
Ebony was fiddling with her pocket knife and replied to Kelly without turning her head, "Wait for me."
As soon as Ebony left, Tristan hurried over and asked Kelly, "You just now..."
Kelly told him the conversation just now. Tristan scratched his head and muttered after hearing the whole story, "Aunt seems to be not smart."
Kelly immediately glared at Tristan and condemned, "Don't speak ill of our aunt!"
Tristan kept his mouth shut obediently and turned to look at Lloyd who was closing his eyes and resting under the tree over there.
Then Tristan asked in a low voice, "Does Uncle Vasquez know the truth?"
Kelly also looked at Lloyd and then shook her head, saying, "His reaction is a bit strange."
Ebony came back ten minutes later.
She's holding a bag in her hand.
Kelly and Tristan were stunned when they saw what was in the bag.
"Why...Why does aunt get so many worms?"
Ebony opened a bag of worms, threw them into the pot, and carried the pot to the stream.
She washed all the worms, then came back, and put some oil into a pan.
The pan and the oil were got from those gangsters. The pan had been used for the past two days, but the oil was privately stored by Ebony. She didn't use it as usual. This was the first time she voluntarily took it out for use.
A few minutes later, worms of different species were fried round and fat in the pan,.
After frying, Ebony caught a worm and tasted it.
She felt that it tasted too bland, so she put a little salt in the pan.
Then she'd like to hand the pan to Tristan and Kelly, "Come, eat!"
Tristan and Kelly instantly widened their eyes and looked terrified!
Ebony put the pan closer to them and urged, "Eat! I make it for you because you treat me as an elder. I'm supposed to take care of the younger generation. It's very nutritious and will provide you with protein. Kelly, you are injured, so you need to eat more. Tristan, you have a big appetite, so you also need to eat more."
Tristan and Kelly was speechless.
Tristan and Kelly had resistance all over their faces.
Ebony was immediately unhappy when she saw that they didn't want to eat.
She held the pan angrily to Lloyd and asked him to eat.
Lloyd who didn't know what's going on was also speechless.
"It's really tasty." Ebony said to Lloyd seriously, "If you don't believe me, I'll show you."
She ate a worm, then took a fat one to Lloyd's mouth, and said softly, "Have a try."
Lloyd didn't want to try it at first, but was touched by Ebony's pitiful look.
So he opened his mouth.
Ebony quickly put the worm into his mouth.
Lloyd chewed it reluctantly, but found that it was really tasty. So he nodded to Ebony, "It's delicious."
Ebony was happy to hear that, so she sat next to Lloyd and proudly looked at Kelly and Ebony.
Tristan and Kelly, "..."
It's over! They completely offended their aunt.
Ebony and Lloyd couldn't finish eating all the worms, so Ebony packed them up and planned to use them as snacks on the road.
They chose a campsite in the evening. While others were busy making fires and setting up tents, Ebony went to dig for worms.
Tropical rain forests lacked everything except worms.
She cooked a full pan of worms, and went to eat together with Lloyd.
Tristan noticed himself and Kelly were ignored completely by Ebony.
So he discussed with his sister, "How about having a try?"
Kelly sighed and nodded bitterly, "Okay."
They're supposed to coax their aunt.
Then they walked slowly to Ebony.
Ebony thought they wanted to eat the worms and immediately put on airs, saying, "Yesterday you ignored my love; today I'm out of your league!"
Tristan and Kelly crouched down and looked at her miserably.
Ebony finally showed mercy and allowed them to eat her worms.
Tristan and Kelly closed their eyes, gritted their teeth, and respectively threw one into their mouths and swallowed them.
After a few seconds, they felt it's really tasty.
Huh?
Tristan and Kelly immediately did not resist and ate another one.
Wow! It was really delicious!
A pan of worms was eaten up by the four.
The next day, Ebony saw Tristan and Kelly's bright smiles when she just got up.
"Good morning, aunt!" They said in unison.
Ebony yawned and said, "Good morning."
At this moment, Tristan took out two large bags from behind, which were full of wriggling worms.
Kelly shyly handed the bags to Ebony and asked, "Aunt, are you frying worms now?"
Ebony, "..."