Poem: "An Expression That Crosses Boundaries"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is spillover from the March 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from fuzzyred, chanter1944, and Doug Edwards. It also fills the "Writing" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv and Rutledge threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.


"An Expression That Crosses Boundaries"

[Saturday, July 9, 2016]

Shiv had heard that Rutledge
was going to get a teleport hub.

More specifically, after a couple
of mass-transit teleporters brought
a bunch of earthquake refugees to town,
and others brought smaller numbers,
the mayor had asked if they would
like some sort of facility for their own.

Plans were still in progress for
a full-size teleport hub, but so far,
Gideon Wheeler had already set up
a smaller test version at his hotel.

Rutledge thought the best way
to celebrate was with a food fest.

So Shiv had called Pain's Gray
and invited him too, because
Gray cooked French and
that was spectacular.

Shiv himself had made
a small mountain of fudge
in three different flavors:
chocolate with Brazil nuts,
sunbutter, and lemon.

Gray's lime macarons
were also made early,
but the puff pastries had
to be assembled that day.

Shiv helped with making
Raspberry Mille Feuille
and Plié Au Chocolat.

They packed everything
into boxes, including extras
for Pavo who was providing
their transportation today.

"Okay, that's everything,
right?" Shiv asked Gray.

"Yep, we finished it all,"
said Gray. He looked down
at their messy clothes. "We
should change before calling
Pavo to pick us up, though."

Shiv had raspberry and
chocolate smears on him.
"Yeah, good idea," he said.

A quick wash removed
the mess, and then he
needed to choose clothes.

He settled on khaki shorts
under a white T-shirt whose
front read, F is for Fudge, and
the back read, Fudge Dealer.

Gray had changed into a pair of
pewter pants and a white button-up.

Pavo hit the living room landing pad
and promptly beelined for the kitchen.
"What are you bringing?" he asked.

"Mine's fudge and Gray's are
French pastries. Here's your cut,
you bottomless pit," Shiv said,
holding out a stack of boxes.

"Yay!" Pavo said. He gobbled
some fudge and a pastry. "Thanks
for stashing the rest in your fridge."

Yeah, because that incident
at the Cross-Cape Art Party in
the Heights was embarrassing.

Pavo took them to the parking lot
beside Family Business Rest.

The place was packed.

From what Shiv had heard,
there was a new garage
outside for cargo teleporters,
and a suite inside had been
set up for passenger teleporters.

Now there were teleporters of
all kinds milling around between
a bunch of food trucks, food carts,
and buffet tables to hold the stuff
that other folks had brought.

Shiv saw Hungry Hungry Hippies,
which specialized in rustic health food.
Next to that one, Leaf in the Wind
dished out maple everything.

"Hey, check out Gay Paree --
they're making French street food,"
said Gray. "Ooo! Mountain Crepes!
I wonder what flavors they have."

"You can hit the French ones
if you want," Shiv said. "I'm
holding out for Syrian Foods."

"I definitely want to try that too,"
said Gray. "You keep talking
about that food truck guy."

"Kardal is great," said Shiv.
"He knows a zillion recipes,
and it's all good. The hummus
is from Syria, but he's also got
a bunch of maple za'atar stuff."

"That sounds fun," said Pavo.
"Okay, what ... I don't even
know how to pronounce that."

"Wlipi, it means Eat Well,"
said Shiv. "That's one of
the Abenaki food trucks,
the omnivore one."

Seven Sisters was
also there, and they
focused on a bunch of
the traditional crops --
corn, squash, beans,
sunflowers, sunchokes,
ground cherries, and maple.

"Now I kind of want to sample
everything," Pavo said wistfully.

Shiv checked the menus. "Yeah,
they all got some sample options,"
he said. "Yay, there's Kardal with
the Syrian Foods truck! Let's
give him some of our goodies."

Amusingly, Heron and Mallory
were there with Dairinne, who was
loudly demanding the Pepper Plate with
hummus plus fresh and pickled peppers.
Zipper must have brought them too.

Shiv said hello to his family and
confirmed the Pepper Plate was
something the ladies would love.

Then he squeezed through
the crowd, towing Gray along,
to the door of the food truck.

"Hey, Kardal, it's Shiv and I've
brought treats!" he hollered.

Kardal popped out. "Thank you,"
he said. "So busy today -- go fast."

"I made fudge, and my friend Gray
made French pastries," Shiv said.
"Here, you can have a box of each.
We tweaked the recipes to be halal."

"Ah, I love French," said Kardal.
"My home used to have a bakery
on the corner with French things."

"That sounds nice," said Gray.

Kardal claimed the boxes and
sampled the offerings inside.
"I love the raspberry pastries,"
he said, "and the sun fudge."

"I made the fudge and helped
assemble the pastries," said Shiv.

"Come around front," Kardal said,
waving. "I'll show you what we're
doing for the food fest today."

"Great, Pavo is a teleporter, so
he's always hungry," said Shiv.

Kardal offered everyone
a Hummus Buster, and then
explained today's food trades.

Alain at the Wlipi truck had
provided Abenaki cornbread,
which folks could then take to
other trucks for various toppings.

Kardal offered pita bread that
people could take around to stuff
with whatever they found elsewhere.

Fadil and Saba Hashim from
Rising Bread Bakery had similarly
brought bags of Syrian flatbreads
like khobez, taboon, and tannour
that went with all kinds of foods.

Shiv wolfed down his Hummus Buster,
then took the bag of pitas. "Where do
you guys want to stuff these things?
I'm going for Three Sisters something
at whichever Abenaki truck has that."

"French for me," said Gray. "I bet
Mountain Crepes has French onion."

"Leaf in the Wind is grilling meat
with maple glaze," said Pavo.

"Let's drop off our contributions
to the buffet," Shiv suggested.

They laid out the boxes, each
with its own recipe card.

Next they got the maple and
crepes, then went to Wlipi
for a Three Sisters topping.

There they also picked up
cornbread, which they took
back to Syrian Foods to top
with muhammara or kebabs.

Then they all plopped down at
a picnic table with Heron's family.

Mallory and Dairinne were
devouring the Pepper Plate.

Heron had sensibly ordered
a set of kebabs for himself, while
Zipper had a Humdinger platter
that he was sharing with them.

Shiv dug into his food. He liked
the maple-glazed meat, and
the French onion topping was
okay. His favorite was the pita
topped with Three Sisters stew,
followed by the cornbread
buried under muhammara.

"So what do you guys think
about having a teleport hub
here?" asked Mallory. "Do
you think it'll work long term?"

"Once they decide what to use
for a full-scale facility, yes,"
said Zipper. "This makes
a nice beginning, though."

"Yeah, I like Rutledge,"
said Shiv. "It'll be nice
to have somewhere regular
to land instead of following
Kardal's landing pad around."

"He has a landing pad?" said Pavo.

"Yeah, it's not out today, but he has
a landing pad and a fridge trailer that
The Teleport bought him," said Shiv.

"Syrian Foods is very popular,"
Zipper added. "Some teleporters
bring Middle Eastern ingredients
to trade for food. Kardal offers
work-trade as another option."

"I'll have to remember that,"
said Pavo. "His food is good."

"Yeah, but I'm loving the fusion,"
Shiv said. "This is brilliant."

"I've heard that people here
have been getting along well,"
said Mallory. "The results of
kitchen diplomacy are delicious."

Heron nodded and said, "Cooking is
an expression that crosses boundaries."

That was the best description Shiv had heard.

* * *

Notes:

This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.