Food Shortage?

Norbert was looking at Gloria's point-out paintings, but then almost fell over when Gloria smacked Mei's wandering hands from her chest.

Norbert turned to look at Lesha and me, who were holding hands, and then back to Mei and Gloria. Mei was wrapped around Gloria and kissing her, well doing something to her face. It looked like it might hurt, and I was pretty sure I could hear her teeth clicking.

I looked back to a sweating Norbert, who was now only looking at his wife like she was the only real thing in the room. Celia was keeping a poker face and letting him think about whatever was going through his mind. This was obviously not a thing that the man encountered, ever.

"Where are we?! Is this our house? What is she doing to that poor woman's face?!" Norbert was clearly stressed out at this point, thinking he had just lost his marbles; I could also agree that what Mei was doing was quite questionable.

Finally, Ceila started to laugh, and the mood broke. Norbert was shocked, but then looked back at me.

"Lesha and I are a couple and so are those too, but I really don't know what they were doing."

I looked over at Mei climbing off Gloria and wiping her face on her robe. Poor Gloria looked disgusted and her face was gross.

I think Mei just licked her entire face the whole time she attacked Gloria.

Gloria turned to Mei and grabbed the front of her robe to wipe her face off. I couldn't take these wild animals anywhere.

"Would you like to try some fresh oysters?" Norbert asked, after clearing his throat. "I can take you down to the farmhouse!"

I turned to him, and he seemed to be looking a bit better, but he looked like he could use some air. I nodded, then Lesha and I grabbed the other two and went back out of the house ahead of Norbert.

Celia said she would get some clam chowder ready for when we got back as we left. I still wasn't sure what an oyster was, but I really hoped it wasn't like a crab.

Tim and Corbit were just walking towards the house but turned to the long red building dipped into the water. Getting closer now, I could see that the roof opened up just before it hit the water, and there were some small boats pulled up onshore.

Corbit and Tim waited outside of the building where there was a sliding door.

"So, what did you think of my parents? Weird right?" Corbit asked with a smile.

"I am more worried about what they think of us, the girls weren't behaving inside and your father looked like he had walked into a dungeon when he came inside! Your mother let him think he was too, it was quite the experience."

"That's good! He normally talks endlessly about how shucking good it is to be a shucking oyster farmer!" Corbit complained, but then straightened up.

"That's 'cause I'm shucking good at it boy! You would be too if you tried!"

Norbert came walking down from the house. He seemed in a lot better spirits now, and he didn't sound mad, just talking.

"Dad, I hear you had quite the time inside, not used to the girls liking each other, hmmm?" Corbit said with a smile to his dad.

"Bit of a culture shock, that's all my boy! Now, you and the other get in there and start pedaling. Since Ma is cooking you some of her famous clam chowders, you better get two lengths before supper! BWAHAHA!" Norbert laughed as he slapped the boy's shoulders walking by them.

Peddling? Oysters? I feel like I am the one who has stepped in a dungeon, and what was shucking, was it like an Oyster curse?

Norbert pulled open the door and I was even more confused. Inside on the right side were weird seats with places to put your feet, and there was a weird metal rope wrapped around a wheel. The rope led to a set of gear that had the metal ropes going around to a big rope that went out into the water.

"This is my little oyster farm, not much but you will see once these boys get into gear!" Norbert yelled at the boys who both jumped and then ran over to the seats.

The two started to...peddle? I guess that made sense, and as they did the metal ropes started to spin.

"Those boys will pedal now and you can see that the chain, that thing moving there, moves the big line, but it moves slowly. There is a lot to move so we use multiple gears and chains to make it easier to peddle, but it takes a while. So, while they are doing that we will grab the nets, you girls okay with getting your hands dirty?"

"These aren't like crabs, are they?" I asked, I was getting flashbacks of Gloria chasing me with the little demons.

"Crabs? No, there are just shells, but they are damn good to eat raw!" Norbert said as a strange-looking net basket came out of the water.

The baskets were filled with dark gray and silver ringed shells that had things attached to them. Norbert unhooked the basket and passed it to Gloria, who gratefully accepted and took it to a big metal tub on the left side near the front.

I turned back to see Norbert reach in a barrel of disgusting green water and pull out another basket, but this one only had little chips of shell in it. It wasn't like the one Gloria was emptying out.

Mei was over playing with the ugly things, not caring the least bit what they looked like. Gloria reached over to the shelf and grabbed a stubby-looking knife.

"Here, come and you can try one," Gloria said, waving me over and picking up one of the shells that were half the size of my hand.

She shoved the knife in the back of it where it was thick and there was a crack. After a bit of wiggling, she turned the knife and the shell opened a bit, revealing a white inside.

I moved closer, now interested, and watched Gloria wiggle the knife around, scraping at the top of the shell. When she popped the top off, I stepped back.

Uck, what was that! It looked like organs! I really thought I was going to be sick, but I couldn't stop watching her as she scraped the bottom of the shell, loosening the mini pile of guts.

"Bottoms up!" Gloria said as she put the shell to her mouth and let the things fall in.

I ran outside to get some air, what the hell was wrong with these people? Was there a shortage of food that I didn't know about?