A single pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09
A nice hot day on Ventana 5, and so many good things to taste and enjoy … and I am a whole fleet captain so I don't scare easily … but when my commercial captain husband and I rolled up to a new cafe and the first thing we heard was “Try the Spidermint tea special!” I put those thrusters in reverse and got into tactical retreat so fast …
In the pitcher, they move with every vibration of the liquid around them … long filament-like flowers that bud and bloom from the leaf itself. Long-time Ventanans grew the herb and were used to it, but seeing that for the first time and imagining all those legs crawling and webs sliding down one's throat …
My uncle, Admiral Benjamin Banneker, was kind enough not to laugh, but at 82 was perfectly unflappable about galactic foods.
“That and some Spidermint pizza, Khadijah – works a lot like basil when you put it with tomato sauce and cheese.”
“Uncle, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,” I said.
“Beautiful in salads too,” he said, “but what people do if they are not marketing it for its novelty is chop it or take the flowers off and use the filaments, flowers, and leaves separately.”
“Oh,” my husband said.
“Its real name is ischatchisa, Rufus,” Uncle Benjamin said, “and it's generally on sale at this time of year as a live plant.”
So, we two captains went to go find out – and sure enough, there were a number of cheerful-looking live plants with the flowers up and perky and dancing around on their filaments in the wind.
My husband was recognized – “Hey, it's Captain Rufus Dixon – and that must be Captain Khadijah with him!”
“It's nice that they know any woman you are hanging around with must be your wife,” I said to him before we were inundated.
“Like I told you: I don't play about my business, and I don't play about this marriage,” he said, and smiled.
We ended up buying several ischatchisa, and it is lovely in the yard, the leaves and flowers giving a complementary scent that is pleasant on warm to hot days as the flowers dance around.
But I still haven't tried Spidermint tea or pizza.