Cheez

Olivia had her hands full, but still attempted to reach for the buzzer. Kate rolled her eyes, kissed Olivia firmly on the lips and took over. "It's us, loaded for a cheese and chocolate orgy of the finest kind," teasing was Kate's only weapon when Olivia became manic Dani loved the tactic. "Bring it on then," she said holding the buzzer to unlock the sidewalk entrance. The cat could smell cheese within a radius of two city blocks, so she was going to a very happy place right now. Circling in counter-clock-wise circles Lotta was ready to measure up to her namesake's capacity for excess. "Easy girl. Remember what it was like when she got into that chunk of aged Wisconsin cheddar?" Lotta was not easily put off her track, but Dani was reaching below the belt with that Wisconsin cheddar memory. The thought of it brought a bubble of gas that embarrassed the blonde. "Anyway it's goat cheese fondue. You probably wouldn't like it." Having never met a goat Lotta was willing to give her Dani a possible maybe. Meeeoww. Lotta rubbed up against Dani's shin, and licked her bare foot. Maybe.

Once inside Olivia took control. Kate and Dani hugged. Lotta was scooped up and cuddled to the point of being over the top with affection, but endured, leaned in for more until finally Kate plopped her down on the floor. The fondue pots (two of them) and little spears looked as good as new. Great care had been the password for the few things that made a difference in the DeSilva house. The colors might have been a time stamp. Avocado green and orange. Truly retro. So old-fashioned they were in again. Dani gave the pots and long-handled forks a good cleaning in hot sudsy water, rinsed them then passed them to her sister. "Remember this?" Olivia ran her finger over a raised bit of color on the orange fondue pot. "Yeh I do...Mom's CUTEX nail polish. They both continued, "Tangerine." The nick on the side of the pot was Olivia's. Left untended it started to rust like ringworm. A small dime-sized scrape their mother insisted was no big thing! One day Olivia had noticed a new shade of nail polish on their mother's beautifully manicured fingers. It didn't take long for both the girls to partner on the repair. Dani sanded the small disc of a bruise with wet-dry sandpaper, and dried the bare metal with a hair dryer. Four thin layers later the orange pot was repaired with a special glossy patch. Stuff like that fed family memories. Dani loved it for the cross-over. Olivia wondered why things like that happened.