{"id":2820,"date":"2015-06-19T18:28:58","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T18:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2015-06-19T18:28:58","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T18:28:58","slug":"the-quail-by-sozou-kyrkou-konstantina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/the-quail-by-sozou-kyrkou-konstantina\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quail by Sozou-Kyrkou Konstantina"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus by Sky Black<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Quail<\/h1>\n

by Sozou-Kyrkou Konstantina<\/p>\n

Sophia immerses the podgy quail into a pot of hot water and then starts plucking them. Tufts of brown feathers blanket the water. She then cuts their heads off with the kitchen scissors.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s Rex that caught them out in the fields over the hill. Scared the hell out of them with his barks,\u2019 Pandeles says. He\u2019s sipping his hot Greek coffee with a sucking noise of the lips. He then exhales with a low groan of satisfaction as if somebody has been rubbing his pained back. \u2018I picked them off with one single shot. Hear me? One shot was enough.\u2019 He knocks on the kitchen table with his weather-beaten right fist.<\/p>\n

\u2018You haven\u2019t lost your flair a bit, old man,\u2019 Sophia says. She forces the kitchen scissors along a bird\u2019s back, all the way from the tail to the neck, and pulls out the intestines and the bile gland, careful not to burst it and embitter the meat. She keeps the heart and liver to fry them later.<\/p>\n

\u2018Who\u2019s an old man?\u2019 he says, goggling at her. \u2018I can run faster than a 20-year-old. I beat our mollycoddled son at the racing track last Saturday. He folded into two and panted like a dog with rabies.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t be so hard on him. He just doesn\u2019t exercise enough. Has a sedentary lifestyle.\u2019 She rinses the birds in the sink inside and out and then ties their legs together with a string. A bird\u2019s leg has got a tiny, flap of plastic tied on its leg. How could she miss it? Somebody would\u2019ve choked on it. She sprinkles the quail with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano and wraps them in a slice of bacon each.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sedentary lifestyle, my ass. As soft as cotton wool he is, our son. Can\u2019t exert himself enough to win. Just once!\u2019 He raises his index finger. \u2018Can\u2019t even shoot a donkey from the distance of two metres. No guts there.\u2019 He takes another swig.<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019ll come round, get tougher. All in good time.\u2019 She spears each bird onto a big metallic skewer, piercing mushrooms in between. Now they look like tiny sumo wrestlers. She lets them rest on a pan and washes her hands.<\/p>\n

\u2018Huh!\u2019 He chuckles. \u2018I wonder how long we\u2019ll have to wait. He\u2019s thirty already. Thank God I\u2019ll live to be over a hundred and might be able to help him out a bit. I\u2019ll let off fireworks in the garden when that day comes.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, of course, darling.\u2019 Sophia caresses his grey hair along the back of his head and throws the small tag she\u2019d found on the bird\u2019s leg with the Trofis quail farm brand on into the bin behind her.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Sozou-Kyrkou Konstantina lives in Athens, Greece but writes in English. She holds a BA(Hons) in Literature and an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her stories have appeared in print and online in several literary magazines. Her first short story collection entitled ‘Black Greek Coffee’ is available from Amazon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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