THE MOMENT
"... and what's it going to be today?" Julius chuckled to himself as he arrived in the client's kitchen. He'd built a decent skill set for himself over the years. He would've never made it to head chef level in a 5-star restaurant, but he did alright in the kitchen, and his big claim to fame was that he didn't ask a lot of questions. He stumbled into a great situation by keeping quiet and following instructions, and he made more money as a freelance chef for the rich than busting his behind in a high-end restaurant, or even as a designated hired chef. He enjoyed the novelty of the unexpected. Most days he rolled into the client's home without a clue, read the ingredients list then threw something together.
Julius took life as seriously as cooking, and so, it was thoroughly entertaining to be preparing 'ground unicorn' or 'pixie parts'. He loved life and he often wondered if his rich clients weren't just paying extra to have their life exactly how they wanted. He never saw any of the supposed mythical creatures whole. Everything was prepackaged and labeled appropriately, and from his point of view, he saw his clients spending money on the most frivolous things imaginable. It wouldn't be unheard of for any of them to get ground beef packaged as unicorn, although, he did wonder about the health consequences of the glitter-drenched meat and chose not to taste any for himself. One of the details that kept that thought alive in his head was that he'd never heard of the company that dealt with all these magical ingredients. No matter how often he checked for himself, he never found any information on 'Sharp Development.'
And so, it was just like any other day when he arrived at the client's home, let himself in, and headed straight to the kitchen to work. He'd had a couple of years of unexpected surprises and yet he still often found himself newly surprised again and again. He grabbed the day's menu and took a glance.
"..siren?" Julius chuckled. "Like a police siren?" It was a funny image that came to mind as he imagined himself preparing a red and blue flashing, wailing light. He knew that wasn't exactly it. He'd heard the word 'siren' in relation to mythical creatures; but, he had no idea what it was. "Let's go take a look," he turned and headed to the large walk-in freezer. By now, he had almost no expectations about what he might find. In general, it was always the same packaging, regardless of what it was labeled. Regardless of his lack of expectations, when he opened the freezer, he found a girl there; and, she wasn't a member of the family.
On first glance, she seemed packaged in the same white and red he'd associated with Sharp Development; but, when she looked up and smiled at him he realized it was a crisp white suit.
"Oh, hello! My name's Rhapsody and I'm here from Sharp Development," she said. "I apologize, we've had some minor technical troubles on our end, but it's good that you're here. You ordered the Siren right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Julius shrugged. It was odd that she was there; but, he knew the family kept exclusively Sharp Development products in the house, so it was unexpected; but, not necessarily wrong. "The family did, I guess. I'm supposed to cook it up," he nodded.
"Ah, you're hired help and not family member," she nodded. "Well, that's fine, I just need to make a decision, you can help with that. Do you know what a Siren is?" she asked.
"No clue," Julius shook his head.
"Oh," her shoulders slumped slightly, and her red eyes drifted up as if contemplating something. "Okay, I guess it doesn't matter," she shrugged. She took a step closer to him, and she started the motion empty-handed. But, by the time she reached him in a step, she had a package in each hand. They were the white and red he'd gotten used to each one with a label that read 'Siren', along with extra fine print below.
"I apologize on behalf of Sharp Development," she said. "Please accept both of these packages free of charge; theoretically one of them is your order," she giggled.
"One...?" Julius asked with an amused smile. "... and, theoretically?"
"Do you know anything about Sharp Development?" Rhapsody asked, Julius shook his head.
"We're a multiversal corporation, with service to billions of alternate Earths," she continued. "A 'Siren' is one of those things that has kind of a murky definition between Earths. On some Earths a Siren is a sea creature and essentially a mermaid while on others a Siren is a bird-like creature in line with harpies. Our processes are usually intelligent enough to take the culture of any given Earth into account; but, a minor glitch meant we didn't know what Siren your employer meant to order. To make up for it, we'll just give you both of them free, though try to keep track of which one is appreciated so you can order it again. It is possible to specify a different type of Siren than the default of your Earth."
"Huh," Julius glanced at both of the white boxes, then nodded at her. "Thanks," he said.
"Well, that's done, good luck!" Rhapsody waved as a black portal opened behind her. If she hadn't already claimed to be from a different Earth, Julius might have tried to warn her. Instead, he had another pressing matter.
"Wait!" he called as she turned toward the portal.
"Yes?" She turned back to face him; but, she stepped backward into the portal.
"I mean, since you're here.. and from a different universe and all.... any suggestions on how to cook these?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's easy," she giggled. First, she pointed to his right hand, and then his left as she gave him instructions. Then, she was gone instantly after her advice. "Cook that one like fish, cook the other one like chicken."