Cooking in Darkness

Cooking In Darkness
In the early dawn light of a Saturday morning, Mefkaht Nesu awoke to the sound of rustling pans and peculiar smells in her dorm room. Rising slowly, she yawned and stretched out her arms with a look of quiet dishevelment about her as she stared at her companion. She rubbed at her eyes to make sure she was actually seeing what was registering. Mason sat down at the foot of his bed, a medium sized metal case before him. He was slowing pouring a small container of red dust into a tray located in the back. He slowly lifted up the top, revealing it to be the lid for a small portable stove. But most odd of all was the fact that he was blindfolded.

“Clayton…what are you doing up this early?” She inquired, looking at the clock. “Good grief, it is only seven o’clock in the morning.”

Clayton just continued to sit on the floor, working on the stove. He pulled out a small pot and placed it on one of the two burners. He twisted at a nob and a small flame roared into life before working to heat the pot. He grabbed a medium sized plain container and worked the top off, revealing oats. He frowned for a second before pouring the oats in and resealing the container. “I normally rise with the sun. I figured that I might as well get in breakfast before I head off to the shed.”

Nesu froze. She had not forgotten their bitter argument for the last day. When he had finally dangled the possibility of a partnership in front of her, she had jumped at finally getting a team. But then they had come to the discussion of sleeping arrangements. Naturally they had to share one dorm, but Clayton had simply wanted to continue his solitude in the shed working on his little experiments. She had briskly declined that idea and forced him to come inside. She made a face in disgust. He had wanted to bring all his work inside as well, and that would not happen on her watch. He kept things pretty well organized, but she was a light sleeper and had poor concentration at times. She did not want him distracting her and cause her grades to slip. Then she noticed he had gotten up.

Mason was standing in the bathroom, moving slowly at the sink. He filled a small metal cup with water and made his way back to the stove. She had always wondered about that. Even with his eyesight being what it was, she rarely ever saw him stumble or run into things. He just…moved out of the way, almost seeing to know sometimes when he might run into something. He sat back down cautiously, and poured the water into the pot. A faint hissing sound occurred when the water touched the now hot bottom of the pot.

Nesu frowned. “Clayton, what are you doing?”

He smiled. “Cooking, what else?”

Nesu twitched with irritation. “I know that! What I mean is why. You can’t see all that well, and you have probably already burned and ruined those oats.”

He leaned over and sniffed at the pot, even as he picked up a small spoon and began to stir the mixture inside. “It’s fine. I don’t smell anything burnt.” He looked up at her, a faint expression on his face. “Would you like some oatmeal?”

Nesu frowned again. The blind were never noted for their skill at cooking. She half rose and put on her slippers before getting completely out of bed. She went over to her dresser and grabbed a change of clothes. A nearly blind guy was probably in the same boat, she thought. “No thanks, I think I’ll head down to the cafeteria and grab something there if I get hungry.”

Mason shrugged and ignored her as she worked her way around him to get at the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Relieving herself, she undressed and hopped in the shower. She gave a happy sigh of relief at the feeling of the warm water over her skin and worked to get herself clean before starting on her hair.

“I wanted you to know, you’re right about what we talked about last night.” The voice said from the other side of the door.

Mefkaht had to frown slightly at the timing, let alone the fact that Mason was talking to her while she was in the bathroom. “Clayton, it’s great that you’re finally coming around and agreeing with me.” She worked to finish lathering up her hair. “That being said, I really don’t think that this is the right time to be having it, alright?”

“Fair enough. I just wanted to tell you that I gave it some thought before I went to bed. I realize I can’t even fit half my stuff in here, but there are some things that I would like to bring in here that could actually do us some good. A couple of things could even help us with getting more room out of here.”

Nesu sighed and finished lathering her hair, and began to finish up. After a few minutes, she was finally done and stepped out of the shower. She toweled off and got dressed, running over his words. “Clayton, I told you that we are getting two more people in here soon. We can’t afford to clutter up the room in the meantime.”

“I know that Meph, and you honestly wouldn’t even notice half the stuff. It’s mostly just tools and a few bits and pieces of gear, and I can still fabricate most of what we would need out in the shed before I bring it in here, to avoid the mess if that is what you want.”

Nesu opened the door, and the first thing that hit her was the smell. Then she saw the scene in front of her in full detail. Clayton has cleaned up much of his things while she had been in there. What utensils he had were put away, with only the pot sitting on a hot pad on his dresser. Two bowls sat side by side, oatmeal in each along with cut pieces of banana and strawberries resting on top. Clayton held both in his hands with their accompanying spoons.

He smiled and held one of the bowls out towards her. “Are you sure you don’t want to try? I’m not being modest when I say this is one of my best dishes.”

Nesu frowned before accepting the bowl. She walks over to her bed and sits down while Clayton does the same on his. Her stomach growled. ''The food doesn’t look bad at all. And that smell is fantastic. ''She hesitated before finally taking a bite. Oh my, it looks like he can cook after all. She smiled and looked back at Clayton. “Clayton, this is fantastic. I am surprised it tastes this good, let alone isn’t even burned.”

He chuckled. “I learned quite a long time ago how to cook.” He stops for a second to enjoy a bite of his own. “Having this problem is one thing, but cooking is far more than seeing. I don’t need to see to taste and smell.”

Nesu took another bite and pondered. “I see. This meal doesn’t change anything however. You can’t be cluttering up the room with all that equipment.”

Mason sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t mean for you to take the food as a bribe or anything. I just…felt like you might enjoy it.”

Nesu smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Clayton, I do enjoy it. I just think that-,” She stopped as she watched a gloomy look cross his face. ''He hasn’t been this depressed before. I am surprised it means this much to him. ''She coughed and spoke authoritatively. “Clayton Mason, do you swear to your leader and partner every single word you told her was the truth?”

Mason looked up. “Of course! I even have few more ideas, though I would have to go grab some of my tools and get measurements on a few items to get it right.”

“A few measurements and ideas will do for now. You can go grab them once we are done here. First, there is something more important we need to do.”

Mason frowned as he finished his bowl. “What would that be?”

Nesu laughed. “Let’s finish off the rest of this oatmeal and get things cleaned up.”