Nick sautes the cut Fujis in butter while Marge kneads the dough. Upon second sizzle, the apples go into the bowl. Nick stirs the apples, coating them in brown sugar and cinnamon, a dash of salt.
The sugar came from sugar canes, the Fujis from Apple trees, and Cinnamon from a tree bark grown in Green Acres. The butter was cultivated in a vat. The salt sodium and chloride came from a comet and asteroid. Welcome to the Cucchina del’Astra, Nick thought.
“Good thing HomePlex got the Cinnamon trees before the big crash. Who’s idea was it to bring up all the tree seedlings at the beginning & growing them in an inflatable greenhouse before construction began on Green Acres?”, Nick asked.
Trumbull & Judy, of course. Even modified, it takes years for a tree to produce fruit, though Cinnamon comes from the bark. I guess that’s why the apple trees came up first and cinnamon tree just before the Impact.”, Marge posited. Same for Sassafras. It was awful damn good timing.”
“Maybe it wasn’t just good timing. The signs were there something big was going to happen”, said Nick. “He knew?”, Marge dropped the rolling pin. “Why didn’t he tell anyone??”.
Nick paused, “They knew, I think. But all the Governments were so compromised, they could only do so much.”, “Like what?”, Marge shouted. “Like sending the Cinnamon trees, and you.”, Nick said, softly.”
“Why Nick? Why me? You’re the guerilla war chief. Trumbull’s the Father of HomePlex. Judy a major donor, Bob the Navy SEAL, Marla worked at NSA! And me? I’m just a homebody with nice boobs!” “They’re very nice-“, a piece of pastry struck and stuck to his forehead. “Nice hooting, Margy!”, another one, this time, Marge laughs. Then, she grew pensive, “Seriously Nick, why did you all marry me? I’m a glorified cook, baker. I never amounted to anything, I’m not important!”
“You’re wrong, you are important. To your family. To everybody.”
“Put it on a greeting card & mail it up your ass, Nick.”
Nick laughed. “You see, that’s why.”. His voice softened, “Marge, Trumbull, Judy, Bob, Marla & I are the fighters, and the fight is coming. We have the important roles in whatever drama our kind is making. But you, you remind us what we are fighting for.”
“Hooters and Apple Pie, seriously?”, she said, standing in an ageless pose of things much fertile.
“Yes, seriously. Hooters & Apple pie.”, nick said.
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