Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

A common misconception about the miracle of cooking the perfect noodle is that the gas flame must be banked to the perfect point between the water boiling and the water boiling over. Although it is true that keeping the water just boiling makes for a tender noodle, the ultimate determinant is the skill level of the cook. The cook’s skill is honed to a fine point by just enough fear to induce terror but not so much that it induces hysteria.

To give you a recent real-life example, Donny (not his real name,) one of the regulars who pays me large sums of money to dominate him, was given the challenge of cooking me the perfect noodle for dinner. Donny, who owns a first-class Italian restaurant (not named for purposes of confidentiality) in a nearby town, had been cooking noodles since he was old enough to roll dough. Donny got his ingredients and utensils out as I gave him additional information.

“Donny, you have a lot riding on making sure the noodles turn out just like I like them.”

Smiling, Donny said, “Yes, Mistress, I know. If I mess up, you will put me over your knee for a spanking.”

“No, you smug worm, the stakes are a little higher this time. Remember me telling you about Room 13 on the 13^th floor of this building? The abandoned floor because of the number of unexplained deaths in Room 13?”

The smile vacated Donny’s face. He audibly gulped before squeaking out, “Yes, Mistress.”

“Let’s just say ghosts get hungry also. The ghosts in Room 13 will eat your second-class noodles as an appetizer, Donny, if they aren’t to my liking. Can you guess what their main course will be?”

Donny said, “I can guess, Mistress. I promise I won’t let you down. They will be just the way you like them.”

What Donny didn’t understand is that no matter how perfect his noodles might turn out, the hungry ghosts needed to be fed.

The End.

Fandango’s FOWC is common, the Word of the Day Challenge is dominate, Paula’s 3 Things Challenge words are bank, noodles, miracle , and Teresa’s Haunted Wordsmith Daily Prompts are a genre of paranormal horror and the photo.