Title: Peas Porridge Hot
Author: Ster Julie
Codes:
Rating: G
Contact: sterjulie@yahoo.com
Summary: What to do when Baby Spock won't eat his vegetables? (To
his two- year-old mind, his reason was quite logical!)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything, least of all Trek.
All Vulcan words are from that wonderful resource Vulcan Language Dictionary
(except for "Ko-Ko." An abbreviation
of the word "ko-mekh" [mother], I intended
"Ko-ko" to be the Vulcan equivalent of
"Mama.")
A/N: The idea for this story was lifted from one of my latest stories:
AFTER THE CREDITS: The Corbomite Maneuver. I am introducing a new critter who may or
may not see the light of day again – Pla'at the
Bunny. Also, shameful plug for my story "Wuzzat?"
ahead!
For Sakura Aloni
--ooOoo--
It all started with the Rigellian Brown Peas.
Sarek had gone to a conference on Rigel where he was served a local favorite, Rigellian Brown Peas. He found them to be a
good source of nutrients, and they were acceptable to both Vulcan and human
constitutions. Sarek and Amanda frequently researched the local cuisine
whenever they were off planet to find foods that their hybrid son could
tolerate.
After returning home and greeting his wife, Sarek held out a stasis container.
"Did you bring me a present?" Amanda asked curiously. She
smiled saucily. "It is more lingerie?"
Sarek raised a brow. "In a stasis box?""
Amanda looked into the box and frowned at the brown pods and spheres she found
inside. "Chocolate?" she asked.
Sarek took a pod and ran his thumbnail over the seam to open it. He
offered a freshly shelled seed to his wife. "It is not chocolate,
but I think you will find it acceptable.
Amanda tasted the seed and rolled her eyes in bliss.
"Everyone present was able to tolerate them," Sarek explained.
"The nutritional benefits our son could gain from eating them is…"
"Say no more," Amanda interjected. "I think Spock would
like these. Did you bring me some seed or plants?"
Sarek gave his wife a sheepish look as he shook his head.
-
Cooked, raw, even in the pod, Rigellian Brown Peas were a hit. Sarek
found them "Satisfactory;" Amanda declared them
"Delicious!" and Baby Spock always said, "More peas!" (or
was it, "More, please"? Amanda couldn't be sure.)
After his next trip to Rigel, Sarek brought Amanda sacks of seed and Rigelian
soil. She experimented with finding the optimum growing conditions for
the alien plants. The first batches were abysmal (if they even grew at
all). It took the better part of a year, but success was at hand.
It was (literally) sweet indeed. The little family, as well many friends
and neighbors, ate the Rigellian Brown Peas as fast
as they could grow them. All was well… until T'Petz
got a bunny.
T'Petz was the neighbor's
daughter. She was 1.35 years older than Baby Spock and
"over-indulged." (Amanda called her "spoiled.")
She had been given—of all things!—an animal from Earth, a Desert Cottontail
Rabbit -Sylvilagus auduboni, of
the family Leporidae
and the order Lagomorpha
(Amanda knew all this because T'Petz would introduce
her pet using the entire scientific name, every time she spoke about the
animal)
T'Petz brought her bunny over to show Baby Spock.
"Her name is Pla'at," she announced. T'Petz placed the bunny on her own small blanket. “In case she defecates or urinates," the
girl explained.
Amanda smiled politely while gritting her
teeth. "How considerate," she
stated. (The little monster had better
clean up after her pet! Amanda thought.)
Spock reached out his little hand and petted the bunny gently.
"Soft," he pronounced.
Amanda went to the kitchen to retrieve some vegetable scraps to feed the
rabbit, but when she returned, both bunny and owner were gone.
"Where did they go?" she asked her toddler son.
Baby Spock held up his hands and said, "Bunny go poop!"
"Oh," Amanda replied. She looked at her young son and
said. "Oh well, it happens."
"It happens," Spock repeated solemnly. He puzzled over the
items in his mother's hands. "Wuzzat?"
he asked.
"Well," Amanda began. "These were for the rabbit, but
since it went home, I think we should go feed the worms instead."
Young Spock clapped his hands. "Squirmy wormy!" he cried with
glee. He rose and toddled after his mother to their composting bin.
"Mmm, mmm," Spock
crooned as Amanda distributed the peelings on top of the pile. "Eat
it all up!" He covered the scraps with shredded paper and misted
water over it all. "Night, night, wormies!"
Spock called before closing the bin.
"Let's clean you up and put you down for a nap," Amanda
suggested. "Then we can have endmeal
together when your father gets home." Baby Spock deflated at the
word nap, but brightened up again when his mother added in a sing-song voice,
"We're having your favorite."
(Three hours later)
"Please eat your peas, Baby," Amanda pleaded.
"No!"
"But you like brown peas."
"No!" young Spock replied firmly, eying the peas with disgust.
"But they are good for you."
"No!"
"But you and I grew these together."
"NO!"
"What is the meaning of all this noise?" Sarek demanded as he entered
the dining room.
"Spock won't eat his peas," Amanda explained.
"Are these not the Rigellian Brown Peas you and Spock grew?" Sarek
asked.
"Yes," she confirmed, "and with much difficulty. He used to love…
uh… eat them before with no problem.
Sarek looked sternly at his small obstinate son, his face an unblinking stony
mask.
"Sa-fu," Sarek ordered, "You will eat all of your peas."
"No!"
"This is not up for discussion, Sa-fu."
"No!"
Sarek consulted the antique grandfather clock Amanda had brought from Earth and
noticed that it was about to chime the hour. "I will give you three Earth
minutes to complete this task. I suggest you begin."
Spock crossed his little arms and tried to stare down his father.
"Two minutes," Sarek's voice boomed ominously sixty seconds later.
The ambassador had faced down far more threatening enemies. He could prevail in
a battle of wills with a two year-old… couldn't he?
"One minute."
Spock's bravado was beginning to wane. He looked from his father to his mother
to his plate and back to his father again.
"Thirty seconds."
Little Spock could hear the ancient clock began to wheeze as it prepared to
strike the hour. Tears began to fill his eyes. His little chin began to quiver. "No," he sniffled.
"Can't."
"Explain."
Spock looked at his parents. Wasn't it obvious to them? "Poop," he whispered as the clock
chimed the hour.
Amanda gasped, then she began to giggle.
"I do not understand your reaction, Aduna,"
Sarek chided. "If the child needs to relieve himself…"
Amanda interrupted her staid adun with a wave of her hand. She got down to her son's eye
level and gazed at him warmly. "Spock,
you are thinking about T'Petz' visit today,
right?" she asked. Spock nodded. "And you saw her bunny rabbit,
didn't you?" Spock nodded again. "And when the bunny went potty, he
made little round bits, right?" Spock nodded harder that time.
"Poop," he whispered again.
Amanda reached for one of the brown peas, but Spock's hand swatted it away.
"No, Ko-ko!" he warned. "Poop!"
"It's not poop," Amanda insisted. She managed to steal a pea from her
son's dish and pop it into her mouth. "Ummmm,"
she crooned.
Spock gasped. He shook his head and declared the whole idea, "Ucky."
Amanda sighed. "Okay," she said as she reached for Spock's
dish.
"Amanda?" Sarek began.
"I will prepare something more appetizing for our son," she announced
with a wink. "I'll be right back."
Amanda returned shortly with a new dish—a pâté made of various herbs, spices,
oil, and mashed Rigellian Brown Peas. The small bowl was encircled by
crisp flatbread. Amanda scooped a bit of the dip onto a piece of bread
and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm, mmm!" she pronounced.
Spock eyed the brown mash suspiciously. Wuzzat?"
he asked.
Amanda said a word that sounded like "beep-pees."
"Beep-pees?" both Sarek and young Spock echoed.
Amanda repeated her actions and popped
another morsel into her mouth. "Mmm, beep-pees!" she moaned.
Sarek held back, but Baby Spock didn't need any more enticement. He took
a small piece of flatbread, daintily dipped it into the bowl and tasted it
carefully. "This is a little
spicy," he announced. "You might want some water."
Amanda looked at her precocious son in surprise, then tipped back her head and
laughed.
From then on, Rigellian Brown Peas were served mashed and seasoned, ready for
dipping into crisp flatbread. It became the favorite
dish of the House of Sarek.
END
"Beep-pees" = (Rigellian) Brown Peas, but you probably already
figured that out!