Truth Without the Trimmings

by Diane Muldrow

The smell of seasoned tomatoes and the sound of laughing voices grew stronger as Amanda and Natasha neared the kitchen.

  “Just in time!” Shawn greeted her. “You can help me take these lasagna noodles out of this pot.”

  “You’d better help her quickly,” Molly said with a smile. She stood at the counter tearing up lettuce leaves and tossing them into a salad spinner. “The noodles keep wrapping around her. She’s going to turn into a lasagna noodle mummy if she’s not careful.”

  Shawn laughed. “It’s true. They’re sticking to me and they’re really hot! Ouch!”

  Shawn was her old fun self. All the uneasiness from the night before seemed to have been forgotten. All the girls were together again—as they hadn’t been in a while. Once more they were the Chef Girls, laughing and having a blast cooking.

  “I told you to put oil in the water,” Peichi said from the kitchen table where she was grating mozzarella cheese.

  “I know, I know,” Shawn replied. “But I forgot—and now I’m paying the price!”

  “When we make lasagna again, we should try those no-cook noodles, the kind that get soft in the oven,” Amanda suggested. She started chopping vegetables for the lasagna.

  “That sounds good,” Shawn agreed.

  Natasha took a wooden spoon from the utensil drawer and began helping Shawn lift the noodles from the large pot of hot water. Together they laid them flat on sheets of foil laid out on the kitchen table.

  As the girls were working, Mrs. Moore walked into the kitchen. “It’s like a sauna in here,” she said with a laugh.

  “Sorry, Mom,” Amanda said. “We needed to boil a pot of water for the lasagna noodles. And we started another one for the macaroni we’re going to cook.”

  “That’s okay,” Mrs. Moore said. She brushed her dark hair away from her face and looked around at the busy girls. “Do you think you could make some extra of something for dinner tonight?” she asked.

  “We’ll make some extra mac and cheese,” Molly agreed.

  “Okay,” Mom said. “I’ll fry up some sausage to put in it.”

  “See!” Natasha cried. “They do go together.” She turned to Mrs. Moore. “Did you see that recipe in a magazine?”

  “Yes, I did. It reminded me of when I was a child and my mother used to put chopped up hot dogs in her macaroni-and-cheese casserole.”

  “E w w w w w w w w!” the girls groaned in one voice. Even Natasha looked grossed out.

  “It was good,” Mrs. Moore insisted with a smile. “Really.”

  “Mom, please don’t do it,” Molly pleaded. “Or at least don’t make us eat it.”

  “All right. I’ll keep the sausage on the side,” she agreed.

  “Thank you,” Amanda said, sounding relieved.

  “You’re welcome.” Mrs. Moore left the kitchen, shaking her head and chuckling.

  “Your mom’s cool,” Shawn said with a hint of sadness in her voice. Her own mother had died several years ago, after a long illness. Now she lived with her dad, whom she adored. But she still really missed her mother a lot. The twins were like Shawn’s second family, but no one could replace her mom.

  “Thanks,” Amanda and Molly said together, their voices overlapping.

  Talking about mothers reminded Natasha of the argument she’d had with her mother that morning. She was sure no one would ever call her mother cool. In fact, she suspected that her friends didn’t like her mother very much. Her mother made them nervous because she was so strict and, well, stiff.

  “Okay, we can start building this lasagna now,” Shawn announced. The girls had made lasagna before, but they still needed the help of a cookbook.

  Molly held the cookbook up for all to see. “Look at this book!” she said, laughing. “What a mess!” The cookbook was smeared with dried tomato sauce left over from the last time they cooked.

  “I guess we’re not the neatest chefs in the world,” Amanda said. She put the large pan down on the table.

  Molly spread some sauce on the bottom of the pan.

  “Here goes,” Shawn said, carefully lifting a noodle. Before she could lay it down, it had somehow folded in half and stuck together. “Argh!” she shouted in frustration.

  “Just hold still,” Natasha advised. Carefully, she peeled down the bottom half of the stuck noodle. Together they placed it over the sauce. Working together, they placed down an entire layer of noodles.

  Molly covered the noodles with more sauce. Then Amanda put down a layer of chopped vegetables. Peichi sprinkled in the grated mozzarella. “Here we go again,” Shawn said when it was time to put in a second layer of noodles. This time, though, she and Natasha got the hang of it and the whole process was easier. In about another ten minutes, they had finished assembling the lasagna. Molly sprinkled Parmesan cheese on the final layer.

  “I’m not picking up the pan,” Amanda said. “What if I drop it? You’ll all hate me forever.”

  “Not forever,” Peichi teased.

  “I’ll carry it to the oven,” Molly said. She lifted the heavy pan and the top layer began to slide. “Maybe not,” she said, putting it down quickly.

  “We can do it together,” Shawn suggested.

  Amanda opened the oven door. The others each held the pan on one side and managed to get it inside the oven. “Do you think we made too much?” Molly asked.

  “Definitely,” Amanda said.

  “They can freeze it and have it another night,” Peichi suggested.

  “Yeah, like many other nights,” Shawn said with a little laugh.

  While the lasagna cooked, the girls prepared their macaroni and cheese. They cooked it in the oven along with the lasagna. Molly finished the salad she’d begun.

  Peichi and Natasha made garlic bread. Amanda and Shawn whipped up a batch of brownies for dessert.

  Mr. Moore came into the kitchen. “I don’t have to worry about heating this house with you girls around,” he said. “It’s hot in here. So, when do we eat?”

  “Sorry, Dad,” Amanda said. “This food isn’t for us. We’re taking it to Peichi’s new neighbors.”

  “Oh, that’s no fair,” he complained, but his blue eyes were twinkling from behind his glasses.

  “We did promise Mom some extra mac and cheese for dinner tonight,” Molly offered.

  “Hmmm, I seem to remember we just had mac and cheese a few days ago,” Mr. Moore said.

  “I think we could cut off some lasagna,” Peichi suggested. “We have a ton of it!”

  “I’ve always liked you, Peichi,” Mr. Moore said, patting her shoulder.

  Just then, Matthew, the twins’ seven-year-old brother, came into the kitchen. He held his arms stretched in front as if he were a sleepwalker or hypnotized. “Brownies,” he chanted. “Smell brownies. Must have brownies. Need brownies.”

  “Okay, Matthew, I guess we can spare one or two,” Shawn told him. “But not until they’ve cooled off a little!”

  Matthew snapped out of his trance. “All right!” he cheered, giving a thumbs-up.

  “This family is so greedy!” Amanda said, sighing.

  “Sorry, hon,” her father said. “It all just smells so good.”

  By three o’clock the girls had all the food packed in cardboard boxes. They made sure to tape their business cards to a few of the plastic containers, then bundled up and headed toward Peichi’s house.

  “There’s the moving truck!” Molly said. Her breath made little puffs of steam in the frosty air. A huge truck sat double-parked in the street. Cars slowed to get around it. Two men struggled to carry a large, green velvet sofa up the front steps.

  The girls followed the moving men up the stairs. The door at the top was held open by a piece of wood wedged under the bottom. “Hello?” they called into the hall as the men turned left with the couch.

  A pretty blonde woman came down the hallway stairs. She held an adorable Asian baby in her arms. “Hi. Can I help you?”

  “Hel-lo! I’m Peichi Cheng,” cried Peichi. “I’m your new neigh
bor on the right side. These are my friends. We made some food to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

  “How lovely of you!” the woman said. “Please, come in. Let’s go to the kitchen.” They followed her down the hall to the kitchen in the back of the house. “Warren,” she called. “We have company!”

  A man stepped out of the hallway bathroom. He seemed to be in his late twenties, about the same age as his wife. “Hi, girls,” he said, looking just a bit baffled to see them.

  The movers hadn’t unloaded the kitchen table, so the girls laid the boxes on the kitchen counters. “I’m Leslie Mink, and this is my husband, Warren,” the woman said. “This is our daughter, Joli. She’s one and just woke up from her nap.”

  Joli giggled and bounced in her mother’s arms.

  “She’s really cute,” Peichi said. “Can I hold her?”

  “Sure,” Mrs. Mink agreed as she handed Joli to Peichi.

  “Where do you want the rest of this stuff?” one of the moving men called from down the hall.

  “Could you girls watch Joli for one moment while Warren and I go talk to the moving men?” Mrs. Mink asked.

  “Okay,” Peichi said. “We’ll take good care of her.” She sat on the floor with Joli in her lap.

  “She could be your little sister,” Molly said.

  “I know,” Peichi agreed. “She’s so cute.”

  “And you’re so modest,” Shawn teased with a smile.

  “Oh, you know what I mean,” Peichi said. “We’re both Chinese—and cute!”

  Joli frowned. She turned her head to look for her mother. Her lower lip quivered. It looked like she was going to cry. “Why don’t you read her a book?” Molly suggested. “It might distract her.”

  Amanda went into the living room and brought back a stack of picture books she’d found in an open box of toys. The one on top was called The Day We Met You. “This one looks cute,” she said, handing it to Peichi.

  Mrs. Mink returned and Joli stretched her arms up for her mother. “She missed you. I was about to read her this book,” Peichi said.

  “She loves that one,” Mrs. Mink said. “It’s about adoption. She doesn’t understand it yet, of course. But someday, I hope, she’ll understand how much we love her. We had to travel all the way to China just to adopt her.”

  “I’d love to go to China someday,” Peichi said. “My grandparents were born there.”

  “What a gorgeous country,” Mrs. Mink told Peichi. “We didn’t see as much of it as I would have liked because we were so busy with paperwork, and we wanted to spend every minute with Joli. The whole process wasn’t easy, but now we’re so happy to have her. I can’t imagine life without her!”

  Natasha caught her breath, and everyone turned around to look at her. Her face was pinched in an unhappy expression. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “What’s wrong?” Molly asked.

  Natasha opened her mouth to speak, but then shook her head and dashed out of the kitchen.

  chapter 3

  “Natasha! Wait!” Molly called. As the others stared, Molly ran out the front door and followed Natasha down the street. Natasha finally stopped running but she didn’t turn around. When Molly reached her, she was out of breath. “What’s wrong?” she panted.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Natasha said, wiping tears from her eyes.

  “Why not?” Molly pressed. “What happened? What’s going on?”

  Natasha just walked away quickly. Molly ran alongside her. “You’re freaking me out, Natasha. Why can’t you even talk about it?”

  Natasha stopped and spoke through her tears. “I really, really don’t want to talk about it. Please, just leave me alone. I have to go home!”

  Molly stood and watched as Natasha walked away with her head down and her hands shoved deeply into her jacket pockets.

  She turned back toward the Minks’ house. The door was still open, so she walked right in and down to the kitchen. “Is your friend all right?” Mrs. Mink asked.

  “What’s the matter with Natasha?” asked Peichi, who was still holding Joli.

  “She wouldn’t tell me,” Molly reported.

  “Could she be having problems at home?” suggested Mrs. Mink.

  Molly shrugged. “She never said anything was wrong. Although earlier she told me that she had a fight with her mother this morning.”

  “That’s true,” Amanda remembered. “But why would some baby books make her cry?”

  “Natasha can be very…well…” Peichi started to tell Mrs. Mink.

  “But she’s changed a lot,” Amanda interrupted. “She’s much better than she used to be.”

  “That’s for sure,” Shawn agreed. There was a time when they’d really despised Natasha. Last year, she’d spread a lie about Molly and Amanda, and told the entire school that the twins had cheated on an important test. Then when Shawn defended the girls, Natasha lied again, saying that Shawn had cheated, too. When Natasha showed up in the girls’ summer cooking class, things were really unpleasant at first. But Natasha slowly became nicer—probably because the twins, at Mrs. Moore’s request, went out of their way to be nice to her. It hadn’t been easy for the twins, but their patience had paid off.

  Mrs. Mink smiled gently. “Well, I hope she feels happier soon. Everyone has bad days. In fact, I was having one until you girls came along. Moving is so stressful. Now, though, I feel so welcome here. Thank you so much for the food.” She peeked into one of the boxes. “Wow! This looks fantastic. I can’t wait to eat! You girls really did a lot. Thanks again.”

  Peichi handed Joli back to Mrs. Mink. “If you need anything, my family and I are right next door. And if you ever need a baby-sitter, I’d love to take care of her. She’s so cute.”

  “You’ll be seeing a lot of us,” Mrs. Mink said as she walked the girls to the front door. She kicked the wooden wedge out from under the door. “I don’t care what those moving men want. I can’t keep this door open another second. It’s freezing!”

  Shawn sighed and held up the remote control. Click! “The band that changed grunge rock forever—their very private story!” the announcer said.

  A bunch of old guys, she thought. Who cares?

  Click!

  “The Rolling Stones Story!” said the announcer on the next channel.

  Even older guys! Shawn thought in frustration. Where are all the cool videos? The only good thing about her father going out on a date was that she got to watch rock videos. Her father didn’t approve of them. Shawn’s dad was a professor at Brooklyn College, and his idea of great TV was watching the news.

  She flipped through ten more channels before giving up. “How could there be nothing on TV?” she said, clicking the set off.

  The apartment suddenly seemed very quiet—and very empty. She glanced at some magazines on the table. No, if she read them, the house would still be too quiet. There was some homework to do. No, same problem—too quiet. Besides, Shawn thought, who wants to do homework on a Saturday night? It’s bad enough that I’m stuck at home!

  She stood and stretched out her arms. “Who’s the team that’s so cool!” she practiced the new cheer the team had just learned. “Windsor Warriors really rule!” She wasn’t quite sure when she should lift her arms. Then, Shawn knew just what to do.

  She’d call Angie! Angie was really fun.

  Molly and Amanda were out to dinner with their family. Peichi wasn’t around because her family was celebrating her grandfather’s birthday. And Natasha—well, who knew what was going on with her? She probably wasn’t in the mood to talk—not after the scene she had caused that afternoon.

  But Angie also had a single parent—her mother. She’d mentioned to Shawn that her mother also had a date tonight.

  Shawn grabbed the cordless phone, threw herself onto the couch, and punched in Angie’s number. “A little too quiet for you?” she asked when Angie answered.

  Angie could tell Shawn’s voice right away. “Totally,” she agreed. “I could be out doi
ng something, but my mother says she doesn’t want me out when she’s out. Is that lame or what?”

  Angie’s words made Shawn crack up. “My father says the exact same thing. Exact! Why do I have to be here alone just because he’s out? It makes no sense.”

  “None,” Angie agreed.

  “Listen, I was practicing that cheer we learned yesterday. Should I lift my arms on the ‘cool,’ or wait until we say ‘Windsor Warriors’?”

  Angie hummed through the cheer, to remind herself how it went. “Windsor Warriors,” she said.

  “Then what comes next?” Shawn asked. “For some reason that cheer always mixes me up.”

  “Get up and I’ll talk you through it.”

  “But I have to hold the phone,” Shawn reminded her.

  “Does your dad have a cell phone—one with a headset for driving?” Angie asked.

  “Great idea!” Shawn said. “I’ll call you right back.” Her father had walked to the restaurant to meet his date, so his phone and headset were still on the front hall table. Shawn found it and put it on. Then she called Angie back. “Okay. I’m ready.” She began to cheer. “Who’s the team that’s really cool?”

  “Arms up now,” Angie instructed.

  Shawn’s arms shot straight up over her head. “Windsor Warriors really rule!”

  This was fun. It was like having Angie right there with her.

  Meanwhile, Natasha sat on her bed, her journal propped against her bent knees. I acted like such a jerk today, she wrote. Peichi’s new neighbors must think I’m a total nutcase. I was rude to Molly, too. She was only trying to be nice. But how can I ever explain to my friends what’s really bothering me? It’s something I just don’t want them to know about.

  She wrote another paragraph before a light knock on her door made her look up. Her mother stood in the doorway and Natasha quickly shut the journal. “May I come in?” her mother asked.

  “Sure,” Natasha replied.

  Mrs. Ross sat on the edge of Natasha’s bed. “I want to talk to you about this morning,” she began. “It’s been bothering me all day. I feel that I didn’t behave very well. You asked me a simple question about inviting your friends over to the house and I turned it into an argument about doing chores. I don’t like it when we fight.”