Tonight, Will and I made tom kah gai Soup. It's that deliciously tangy, pale red soup you get in Thai restaurants, made with coconut milk and chicken. Oh, it's heaven. And it was raining outside. And we were cooking lots of it to feed all of our friends we'd be visiting later on.
I was sauteeing shallots and cilantro in hot oil in a heavy black pot over the stove, and Will was cutting up raw chicken. We were having some sort of argument, but it was the type of argument had by two people who really like each other a lot. You know what I mean. To reinforce one of his points, Will threw a piece of raw chicken at me. I dodged it and it hit the kitchen floor.
Right on cue, Hometeam came skidding forward. I said, "Go ahead, Hometeam, eat the chicken!" and Will said, "Gah! No, don't let her eat that, it's raw!"
"Will" I said with that voice I use when I think it's a good time to educate someone, "she can eat raw chicken, she's a dog. Dogs are designed to eat raw things."
To which he replied something like, "Well....hmmm. I don't think so."
And I couldn't just let it go. I was thinking about my friends Angela and Ryan, whose first dog died of stomach cancer, so they did some research and they now feed their replacement dog only raw meat and bones, and as far as I know, that dog is still living forever. I told Will all about this dog.
I reminded him about dogs in the wild tearing up their prey under howling moons.
I was happy to edify him on this matter.
Just as I was wrapping up my lesson, we heard a terrible sound. There was Hometeam, spasming wretchedly on the carpet, her whole body writhing. She threw- up, once, twice, three times. She threw up endlessly.
After a final heave, Hometeam hung her head and limped to the door.
I sensed this would do little to support my argument.
I looked over at Will. He was watching the episode like a kid about to board a carnival ride made of candy: pure, unadulterated, uncontained joy. He was literally the happiest I've ever seen him.
"Well," he said calmly. "That was the highlight of my day."
The funny thing is, I'm still certain that I'm right.