"I do?" he asked.

Barrel reached up, and sure enough, she was right.

"No thanks," he said. "I got it."

He reached the tip of his tongue to lick off the residual filling. Barrel gave her an awkward grin, then noticed her plate was almost empty.

"And I also got the main course."

He quickly went back to kitchen to get the scorpion scampi from the oven. Barrel made a quick check of the rotten apple dumplings boiling on the stove. The extra time it took to get Agatha meant they were almost done already. With a frown, Barrel put them into the oven after removing the scampi to let them finish cooking and stay warm in the oven's low heat. At least they'd [i]definitely[/i] be ready by the time they were ready to eat them.

Barrel came out with the pot of scampi and carefully set it on the table.

"One benefit of living with Shock," he said. "I get my scorpions fresh."

He chuckled as he dished up a plate and served it to Agatha.

"[i]Almost[/i] worth all the head smacks."