Born Rude

I perched on the edge of the table and nodded toward the gathering of white cartons.

"Help yourself. There's fried rice in there somewhere."

He put his paper bag on the floor, picked a carton indistinguishable from any other, took the spoon I offered him, and popped the carton open.

"Peas," he said with disgust.

"Why the hell do they always put peas in it?"

"So what brought you here so bright and early?"

He used his spoon to pick out the peas with great care, depositing them into the trash.

"Heard that you got something."

"Boy wonder snitched on me?"

"Yeah."

"When? This morning?"

Ben nodded. "It's the blood oath. For example, if he were to get his leg ripped to shreds, it's his duty to warn us that he can no longer guard you to the best of his ability. Someone had to come and assess the situation."

"Since when is someone' you? Don't you have plenty of flunkies to run your errands?"

He shrugged. "Just checking on the kid."