Boiling Point (2 page)

“Mmmmm,”
sighed the girls all at once.

The girls had bought three pounds of chicken tenders, which they’d seasoned with teriyaki sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and tarragon, the way Mrs. Moore had taught them. And it smelled unbelievable!

“Wow!” cried Peichi.
“This
is what I want for dinner tonight. It smells so good!”

“That’s from the herbs we put on it,” said Shawn. “But how do I know if it’s done?”

“It
looks
done,” said Peichi. “It’s nice and brown, anyway.

“Just cut open a piece,” said Molly, reaching for a knife.

“No! Don’t do that!” cried Shawn. “It won’t look pretty.”

“No big,” said Molly.

“I can’t look!” cried Shawn, hiding her eyes. “She’s ruining my chicken!”

Molly carefully sliced through part of a plump piece of chicken and prodded open the meat. “It’s still too pink,” she said. “Right, guys?”

The girls leaned over and peered at the chicken. “The recipe says it’s done when the juices run clear,” said Amanda, who’d quickly scanned a page in Mom’s favorite cookbook. “This needs to go back in.”

Shawn put her oven mitts back on and opened the oven door. She slid the glass pan full of chicken back in the oven and closed the door. “I hope I don’t end up burning it,” she said. “What if it gets too tough?”

“Don’t worry”, said Amanda. “We can just stick the meat thermometer in a piece of chicken. When it reads one hundred eighty degrees, the chicken will be done.”

“We should have thought of using it earlier—before we mangled this poor bird!” Shawn said.

Amanda shrugged. “Well, we can’t think of
everything.
The chicken will look and taste just fine!”

Besides the chicken, the girls had also made homemade macaroni and cheese, a tomato sauce for pasta, a pasta salad, a chickpea salad, a cold soup called gazpacho, scalloped potatoes, and the cookies. The woman whom they were cooking for, Mrs. Falvo, had asked for something for breakfast, too, so the girls had made banana bread. Some of the dishes the girls made were from family recipes, and some were from their weekly cooking class that they had been taking together.

“My legs are stiff,” groaned Molly. She plopped into a chair at the Moores’ kitchen table.
“Aaaahhh.
”

“So are mine.” said Shawn, pulling out a chair. Amanda and Peichi did the same.

It felt good to sit down, which none of them had done in hours.

Molly looked around the big kitchen. She and Amanda spent a lot of time in there—more time than in the room they shared. And lately, Peichi and Shawn had been spending a lot of time there, too. The kitchen was inviting and open, with its high ceilings, pale yellow walls, and deep blue and green tiles that Mom had found in Spain. It was decorated with funky old dishes and bowls, colorful rugs shaped like apples and pears, and gleaming copper pots that hung from the ceiling. It was a place in which to hang out, do homework, and talk to Mom while she cooked. Mom cooked a lot on the weekends. Dad pretended to help, but he really just enjoyed spending time with Mom in the kitchen, too.

“Hey, Molls, do you think we have enough containers?” Amanda asked, looking at all the food.

Molly just continued staring into space.

“Yo, Molly!” Shawn called.

“Molls, this is no time to daydream. We have a ton of work to do,” Amanda said.

“Huh?” Molly said, blushing. “I-I heard you.”

“Yeah, right,” Amanda said.

“Molly, do you think we have enough containers for all this food?” Shawn asked, stepping in between the girls.

Molly stood up. “No problem. We have plenty in here.” She opened up a cabinet.

“I can’t wait to get paid!” Peichi said as the girls started to pack the food away.

“We’re going to be extra-rich this week, because we have to turn around and start cooking for the Jamisons!” Shawn pointed out. “Oops, I forgot—we should finish paying back Grandma Ruthie.”

Shawn’s grandmother had loaned Dish the money to buy a secondhand fridge that was kept in the Moores’ basement. Now the girls could keep the food for their jobs out of Mrs. Moore’s way.

“We need to come up with a plan to pay back Grandma Ruthie,” Amanda said. “But right now we need to figure out when we should go shopping for the Jamison job. Tomorrow morning? Molly and I have piano lessons tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow morning doesn’t work,” said Peichi. “I have my flute lesson, and I’m so not ready.”

“Well, tomorrow morning’s the only time that works for me,” Shawn said.

“That’s okay,” said Peichi. “We don’t all have to go every time, do we?”

“I guess not,” said Molly.

“Well, let’s get going!” said Peichi. “Let’s walk this food over to the Falvos! Then we’ll head over to my house and go swimming.

“Uh, Peichi, the chicken’s still in the oven,” said Shawn.

“Oh, yeah.” Peichi blushed as she sat down.

“We really should just go shopping after we drop off this stuff,” suggested Amanda.

Everyone groaned.

“I wanna go swimming!”

“Me, too.”

“We worked all day! We need a break.”

“Guys, it’s just food shopping. We can swim afferwards!”

“All right,” the girls agreed

To:
mooretimes2

From:
qtpie490

qtpie490:
wuzzup, M & A?

mooretimes2:
not much, Shawn, wuzzup with u? We’re tired from cooking and shopping and swimming today.

qtpie490:
me too! Hey can u meet me 2morrow morning at the park?

mooretimes2:
where? The usual place?

qtpie490:
yup, Turtle Bench.

mooretimes2:
ok, what 4?

qtpie490:
I need 2 talk!

mooretimes2:
did something bad happen?

qtpie490:
not really. Don’t worry. GTG! See u at 10. Mwa!

mooretimes2:
ok. b-b <3 <3 <3 <3

After Molly and Amanda logged off the computer they went upstairs to their big pale-blue room. It had twin beds, a window seat, and a full-length mirror that Molly teased Amanda for spending too much time in front of. The window seat had a dark blue cushion littered with dozens of stuffed animals. The twins didn’t really play with them anymore, but getting rid of them was unthinkable.

Amanda began to brush her hair.

Molly sat on the window seat and hugged her old pink elephant. “I wonder what’s up with Shawn?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “The suspense is killing me!”

“Me, too,” admitted Molly. She sighed. “I just hope Shawn’s okay.”

M
olly woke up early. Their tall row house was quiet. Taft Street was quiet. But something had woken her up. She turned her head in the direction of a cooing pigeon outside on the windowsill. There was Matthew’s fat tiger cat, Kitty. She’d jumped noisily onto the windowsill and was staring intently at the bird.

“Kitty,” whispered Molly, “that bird isn’t afraid of you.”

Kitty turned to look at Molly and jumped right onto her stomach.

“Oof!”
Molly said, trying not to wake up Amanda, who was sound asleep.

Molly looked at the glowing red numbers on her alarm clock. Six-thirty A.M. It was still hours before she and Amanda were to meet Shawn.

As Molly petted Kitty, she wondered what the deal was with Shawn. Shawn had been Molly’s and Amanda’s best friend for years, and they’d seen her through a lot. When Shawn’s mother died a few years ago, after a long illness, Molly and Amanda were there for her. Having sleepovers. Bringing her along to their grandpa’s house on the Jersey Shore. And just hanging out. Shawn was an only child, and Molly and Amanda were like sisters to her.

Oh, I know what this is about,
Molly suddenly realized.
I think.

A few hours later, the twins were waiting for Shawn at Turtle Bench in Prospect Park, watching two swans glide silently through the water.

It had been only recently that the twins’ parents and Shawn’s dad let them go to the park without them. Prospect Park was huge and thickly wooded, so the girls couldn’t just roam anywhere they wanted to. But they
were
allowed to hang out in small sections of the park right near their homes. How that the girls were eleven, their parents had given them a little more freedom. They could explore the cool toy stores, bookstores, and pizzerias of their neighborhood, Park Terrace, Brooklyn, as long as they were in a group of two or more.

Sometimes the girls visited the seals and other animals at Prospect Parks new zoo. Nearby was a cool old carousel. The big lake had pedal boats, and there were beautiful meadows everywhere for picnics. Free plays, dance performances, and concerts were held at the band shell all summer long. And there was ice-skating at the rink all winter. Near the park stood the huge Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. If this wasn’t enough, Manhattan was only a quick subway ride away. The girls loved living in New York.