"Me!", she concluded, looking to Drew who was slivering green and red chillies."Me!", she concluded, looking to Drew who was slivering green and red chillies. "You accepted their role in your development", Drew reminded her as he stirred the mixture of chicken stock, salt, lemon grass, citrus leaves, lime rind, and green chillies in the saucepan. "Their guidance has been good. Perhaps the older, wiser heads do have a good reason", he suggested. Karen watched Drew cover and set the saucepan to simmer after bringing it to a boil. "If they do have a good reason, and it's wrong for me, it's no skin off their asses", she observed. "Where else are you going to study the _Necronomicon_?". "I don't know Drew, but I draw the line at dogmatic conformity. 'What is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good - need we ask anyone to tell us these things", Karen quoted. "Excuse me. I'm going to get a shower". After luxuriating under the hot fingers of the shower massage, Karen rejoined Drew, who was busy straining the soup through a sieve. "What about you Drew", she asked, approaching him. "What do you want to do?" Drew returned the mix to the saucepan and brought it to a boil. "My path is not dictated by another, nor is it dependent", he said as he added the shrimp and cooked them for several minutes in the stock. "The university administration suffers from an inherent flaw of Authority: 'The company takes what the company wants and nothing's as precious as a hole in the ground'. This isn't even personal. It's just rules." After reducing the heat, Drew added fish sauce and lime juice to the simmering soup. He stirred it and immediately removed it from the heat. "Our thesis is a collaboration", Karen reminded him. "What'll you do?", she asked as Drew retrieved their beers from the fridge. Karen poured the soup in a tureen. Drew sprinkled it with red chillies, coriander leaves, and green onions as he replied. "I've held back some work on multidimensionality. Maybe that and some fresh ideas on chaos. Perhaps the attenuation of magic. I'm not sure, but it's not a problem. |