- Episode 2
- At the Meat Locker
- “You’re just in time,” said Frank. “Your grandpa and I are ready to drive into town to pick up some pork in town for your picnic lunch on Monday. You’d like to come with us, wouldn’t you?”
- “We’re going to the supermarket?” Mel asked.
- “This is our own meat; it's kept in a big freezer, Frank explained. “We’ve got about 250 pounds of meat there, I’d guess. Pork chops, hamburger meat, steaks, ribs.
- Mal and Mel looked at each other quizzically. Why would someone want to buy all that meat and then have to go someplace to pick it up? “Uh, ok, I guess.” Mal shrugged.
- Frank wondered if they could drive the fuel cell car to town. “Sure,” said Mike. “Want to drive?”
- In less than 5 minutes, they pulled up to a red brick building. It was very plain looking, not at all like a grocery store or supermarket.
- “Well hello, Frank,” said a big man sitting at a desk facing the door. “It looks like you’ve got some company for the weekend. What’s on your menu?” He had big, muscular arms and a big smile to match. The twins liked him right away, even though he looked strong enough to pick up both of them at the same time without any effort at all.
- “Hello, Jake. We’re having meatloaf tonight and a nice chicken dinner tomorrow, but Martha wants to make pork chop sandwiches for the Maloney’s picnic lunch on the drive back to the Chicago area on Monday. By the way, this is Mike Maloney and these are his grandchildren Mallory and Melody Maloney. I’d like three packages of our boneless chops.”
- “Nice to meet all of you. Well, kids, how do you like farming country?”
- Jake pulled a heavy white butcher’s coat from a peg as the twins both said “fine.” “Want to check your inventory?” Jake asked Frank, who answered, “No, I’ve got a pretty good idea what we’ve got. By the way, we’re planning on bringing in the calf in a few months so our shelves will be stocked with veal soon.”
- The twins moved to follow Jake into the meat locker, but Frank stopped them. “It’s really cold in there, so cold you’d be blue before you knew it. That’s why Jake wears that big coat. And look at those thick gloves. Otherwise, everything he touched would stick and freeze to his fingers.”
- “Aw, gee,” Mel complained. “Well, can we just look around?” Mal asked.
- “Not much to see, but sure, go ahead.”
- The twins followed Jake. “We just want to see where you’re going.”
- “Ok, you can peek in when I open the door. Without a heavy coat like mine, you’d catch your death of a cold or even pneumonia.”
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- IN the Meat Locker
- Really cold air rushed out into the room and turned to frost when Jake opened the big silvery door of the meat locker. When he switched on the light, the twins saw rows and rows of shelves piled with different sizes of packages, all wrapped in white and scribbled on with a black marking pen.
- “Whoa, neat!” Mal’s eyes widened. “Wait here,” he said to his sister.
- “Mal, don’t,” Mel whispered. But it was too late, as Mal slipped into the meat locker just before the door closed.
- It only took a minute for Jake to walk to the shelves where Frank’s meat was kept. He quickly found three packages of boneless pork chops, stepped out of the freezer and switched off the light before shutting the door.
- “That didn’t take long, did it?” Jake said to Mel, who was too scared to move from the spot where she and Mal stood looking inside the meat locker. ”Where’s your brother?
- “Um, he just wanted to look around. He’ll be back in a minute.” Mel didn’t know quite what to say and didn’t want to get her brother into trouble.
- It was now pitch black inside the meat locker. Uh, oh, Mal thought. He could feel his breath making an ice fog. He tried to see something, anything, but he was in total darkness. There should be a light switch. But he was too small to reach the switch even if he knew where it was, as companies who build meat lockers don’t expect seven-year-olds to be inside -- especially by themselves.
- Such complete blackness was a new experience to Mal. He could always see shadowy outlines once his eyes became used to the darkness of night or coming into a dim theater from bright sunlight. Something else was odd, though. Mal didn’t feel cold at all. But he also didn’t want to touch anything, remembering Frank’s warning of fingers sticking and freezing to everything.
- His hands in his pockets, Mal carefully moved backwards until he felt his shirt touched something. It was narrow, like a shelf. Ok, at least I know that’s not the way to the door, Mal reasoned. Now what? I can’t tell how far to turn around, since I can’t see how far I’m turning. Then Mal had an idea. If I move sideways, I’ll either find the door with my shoulder or just more shelves.
- So Mal carefully took a step to the left, then another. No door. Just more shelf. So he took to sideways steps to the right. More shelf. No door. Hmm. One more time to the left. One, two, three, four, five sideways steps and there it was. The door!
- Now, how can I get out of here before Uncle Frank kills me? Mal’s muscles tensed, but not from the cold. He felt his face flushing with warmth. Mom and Dad are gonna kill me too!
- Ok, there should be a doorknob someplace. I’ll find it with my back. Then I can try to open it with my elbow or something.
- So Mal carefully turned and moved his back to the door and there it was as his shoulders felt a push bar. All he had to do is push. While meat locker makers may not have considered the possibility of seven-year-olds being inside their freezers, Mal was indeed lucky that they did design their freezer doors for people with their hands full, so that all anyone needed to do is push their doors open with their hips or backs.
- Mal leaned back hard. Next thing he knew, he was on his back, looking up at his sister who was just as startled as he was. “You idgit!” Mel whispered harshly and reached to help Mal to his feet. “We’ve got to get back before they find out you were in there. Let’s go!”
- Idgit, by the way, is the twins’ code for “idiot,” a name-calling word sternly forbidden by their parents. In fact, Agnes and Mort did not approve of name-calling at all.
- Jake had taken off his thick gloves after putting the packages of pork in a small paper sack. His white coat was back in its place on the peg. Mal and Mel both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Jake was just then handing Frank the sack with the pork chops. None of the adults missed them. None of them knew that Mal sneaked into the meat locker. Whew!
- “I’ll unwrap them and let them thaw a bit before putting them in the fridge overnight. You still keep it at zero?” Frank asked.
- “Sure do. That’s minus 18 degrees on the Celsius scale. Sounds colder,” Jake teased as he winked at the twins.
- Mal and Mel smiled nervously. They weren’t sure whether or not Jake knew that Mal followed him into the locker.
- A Butcher's Surprise
- “Say, I’ve got a present for both of you,” Jake said. His eyes had this mischievous look. “Bet none of your friends have anything like it.”
- “What is it?” the twins asked, their voices perhaps a bit louder than normal because they were still nervous about Mal’s disregard of Frank’s warning. Although, it should be noted, Frank did not exactly say “don’t go into the locker” so technically Mal didn’t disobey a direct order.
- Jake walked to the refrigerator case and returned with something in each of his big fists. “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”
- The twins did what they were told and held out their hands. They felt something round and squishy. They opened their eyes and saw a big eye staring back at them.
- “Oh, gross!” said Mel, almost dropping the eye in her hand. She didn’t like slimy things at all.
- And Mal? “Wow. Cool! It’s like the ones in the Halloween shop. Only it’s a real eye, right?”
- “That’s right,” said Jake. “Do you know where it came from?”
- “It’s big. Is it from an animal?”
- “Right again. Which animal, do you think?”
- Mal thought a moment and guessed “A horse?”
- “You’re close. It’s from a cow your grandpa brought in last week. The rest of it is hamburger, ribs, steaks, roasts, stew meat, soup bones...”
- “Um, are we supposed to eat this eye?” Mel wanted no part of that.
- “Not unless you’d like to taste some of my delicious, special sausage. Mal, would you like to try some?”
- “Sausage made from cow eyes?” Mal’s interest was quickly fading.
- “Sure, not only eyes, but we use other parts of the cow that city folk don’t usually see at the food market. Want to try some?” Jake wanted to see how different Mal really was from his sister.
- “I’m kind of full right now.”
- “Well, that’s all right. Come to think if it, we might be all out of that sausage until I make some fresh next week.” Jake decided not to make Mal more uncomfortable than he already was.
- It was time for lunch when Frank, Mike and the twins arrived back at the farm. The table was already set and everyone enjoyed hearty home made soup with homegrown vegetables, garden salad with greens actually picked from the garden out back, thick slabs of homemade bread with freshly churned butter and “farmer’s cheese” – Martha’s very own, of course.
- Frank and Mike playfully asked the twins why they suddenly developed such big appetites after not being so interested in Mr. Jake’s sausage. The other adults grinned knowingly, as Frank had told them about Jake’s special present to the twins.
- Then Mal started talking excitedly about the cow eyes. Mort and Agnes quickly tried to change the subject, but it was too late.
- Mal dug into his shirt pocket and triumphantly retrieved both cow eyes. You see, Mel gave her cow eye to her brother as soon as they were outdoors because she didn't want to appear impolite or squeamish in front of everyone inside the building.
- “Not at the table, Mallory.” Mal quickly obeyed, as his mother rarely used her no-nonsense “do it now” tone of voice.
- After the dishes were done, the twins went out to play with Rufus and explore the farm. Agnes came out soon after.
- “Aunt Martha’s letting us help her with tomorrow’s chicken dinner,” Agnes announced enthusiastically.
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- “Tomorrow? How long does she take to cook chicken?” Mel asked.
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- “The actual cooking won’t take long. We’re going to start by catching ourselves some chickens!”
- “Hey, I can do that,” Mal volunteered.
- “What do you suppose happens next?” Agnes was trying to gently prepare the twins for the realities of food and farm life. They had gotten their first lesson that meat doesn't always come from a store, but it still came frozen and neatly wrapped.
- Mom's Surprise
- Agnes, Rufus and the twins walked together toward the fenced-in area where the chickens shared territory with the pigs in their pen and the cows, who were still far out in the pasture.
- When they the wooden fence, Agnes stopped. She took a few steps backward and then ran toward the fence. Her legs seemed to have springs as she ran, and then with a big leap, Agnes landed with both feet on the top beam, which was nearly four feet high. She turned around to face the twins, her hands on her hips and grinned broadly.
- “That was fun. It’s been a long time since I’ve done something like THIS!”
- Mal and Mel could hardly believe what they had seen.
- “Wow! Mom! Ninja Mom!”
- Even Rufus joined the chant with his barking.
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LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION
Cow Diagram (Butcher's Viewpoint)
- LINKS: BOOK 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO THE BIOFABLES SERIES
BioFables 1 Teaching Brief
BioFables 1 & 2: Word Counts, Reading Levels
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