Now the kitchen? I'm comfortable in a kitchen.

Kitchen work is one of the easiest things to get into when you're on the run. Not a lot of people care too much about things like your real name, age, or criminal record when it comes to scrubbing pans. After some dishwashing you move to prep, then prep goes to working on the line. I could handle my own.

The kitchen was abuzz with three men furiously preparing the meal. All of them were broader than I was, though Theo and Phillip were the big guys. They looked like two statues, Theo carved in the bronze of Greece, his brother-in-law pale as cream. Andrew was the odd man out, a short Black guy, his big belly covered in flour as he rolled dough, smoking out the cracked window and humming along to the Greek music out of a cracked old radio/cassette player.

"Take off that jacket! So formal! We have work to do Gabriel!" Theo bellowed, shoving a knife and vegetables into my hands and making me prep the salad. I got to laying waste to some cucumbers and tomatoes, and the uncles began chatting. They spoke in Greek, but one of the gifts of being me is the gift of tongues.

είναι αδύνατος, isn't he? *Your little cub wants a cat. But he's nervous... Look at him, I could floss with him, Phil

"I'll get stuck in your teeth."

The uncles stopped, turning to me. Oh, oh I fucked up.

Andrew broke the ice. "Oh come on now. That's funny. You assholes made me learn it before you'd let me date Thali, so he's just ahead of the game!"

The two giants glowered, looking between my scared ass and my powdery savior, then started laughing. Theo pointed the spatula he had been flipping cutlets with, grease dripping off the handle, and smiled.

"Oh, you'll do. You'll do nicely. Now, finish up those angoúri and we'll get this on the table before my Alexandria gets home from the presbytera meeting."

"Presbytera?"

I knew I screwed up as soon as it came out.

"Oh, did you not have a married priest at your Church?" Theo waited, giving me time to slide the cucumbers into the bowl and think.

"Well, I'm uhh, not really religious."

Theo's anger rang across his face, then faded, a goofy smile on his face.

"Oh, Ali is in trouble..." He chuckled, grabbing two bottles of wine between the fingers of his left and a platter of appetizers in his right. "But nobody is perfect, yes?"

[[Life happened, I'll be wrapping this in the morning]]