Lou
Anne carefully placed the two hot peppers she had purchased at the Knollwood
Market the day before on a plate. The grocer had insured her they were the
hottest he had. She had never cared much for hot peppers, but she was desperate
to conceive and would do anything to help the process.
She
debated between taking little bites or just taking two large bites of each
pepper. Mrs. Pearl had said she only needed to eat one, but Lou Anne wanted to
increase her odds by eating two. She swiped up a pepper and took a huge bite, chewing
quickly and swallowing fast. She did the same with the second pepper.
“Well,
that wasn’t so bad,” Lou Anne said, but she quickly changed her mind as the
fire started in her throat and quickly raced up to her mouth and lips.
Lou
Anne started fanning her mouth, but it wasn’t helping. She bolted up, causing
her chair to fall over, and dashed to the icebox. She grabbed the milk and
drank directly out of the glass bottle. She dashed to the sink and poured it
over her lips.
“Thirsty?”
asked Bill.
Lou
Anne let out a groan. The man had horrible timing.
“I
was trying a new pepper from the market,” said Lou Anne. “I was thinking about
canning some peppers in with the stewed tomatoes this year.”
“Guess
you won’t be doing that.” Bill raised an eyebrow as Lou Anne wiped off her
mouth, lips still tingling from the heat.
“Guess
not,” she said, as the flames reignited in her mouth. She mentally begged for
Bill to leave.
“I
guess I’ll let you get back to your day.” Bill looked at the plate holding two
pepper stems and then back to his wife. He headed toward the back door. “You
might find a chunk of cheese will help.”
“I’m
fine,” yelled Lou Anne. As soon as she heard the back door slam, she raced back
to the icebox and grabbed the cheese.