The Wordsmith's Forge

This poem was written for snowflake_challenge as a gift for siberian_skys who made a wish for a new part of Love Is For Children. It also fills the "Winter" square in my 11-1-23 card for the Drabble Fest Bingo fest.


"Mudra Fruit"


Phil was in the kitchen
punching down dough
when Clint came back
from the farmer's market
with ... something yellow ...
clutched in his hands.

"Look, look what I found!"
Clint said as he danced
around the kitchen with it.

It looked like a weird,
twisted little hand.

It smelled like lemon
and flowers, though.

"What is that thing?"
Phil wondered.

"Whatever it is, it
smells like heaven,"
Steve said. "Golly,
look at all this texture,
too, now I want to draw it."

"This is a Buddha's hand,
you can only get them in
winter," said Clint. He
pulled another one from
his backpack. "Here, I
brought home enough for
everybody to have some."

"I've never smelled anything
like this before," Bucky said.
"I'm sure of that. Never."

"Take one," Clint offered.
"It's supposed to be uplifting."

"Yeah, it is," Bucky said,
rubbing it against his cheek.

"Scent has strong connections
with memory," Phil pointed out
"So a new smell could help you
anchor yourself in the here-and-now."

Meanwhile Steve was ransacking
the fruit bowls on the countertop
to make a still life arrangement.

"I haven't had this since I went
to Kunming on that mission that
had me disguised as a fruit vendor,"
Natasha said. "I shall make salad."

"What smells so good in here?"
Betty said as she came in.

"Clint brought goodies
from the farmer's market,"
Phil said. "Come get some."

"Hail the mighty hunter!"
Betty crowed, hugging Clint.
"Hey Bruce, come and see
what Clint brought home."

Bruce followed her voice
into the kitchen to see.
"Oh, mudra fruit!" he said.

"This is Buddha's hand,"
Steve explained, smiling.
"Clint brought home enough
for everyone to have some."

"I never met anyone who
knew the real name, so I
just called it mudra fruit,"
Bruce said. He picked up
one that was mostly curled
with two fingers extended.
"See, this is the Pran Mudra."

He made the same shape
with his free hand, and yes,
they did look rather similar.

"Mmm, there was this baker in
Kolkata, she was British-Indian,"
Bruce mused. "She made the best
shortbread cookies I've ever had,
using this. Like lemon, but not."

"I like lemon shortbread,"
Steve said as he sketched
his still live of various fruits.

"You like everything," said Bucky.

"Natasha's making salad with
Buddha's hand and I don't
know what else," Clint said.

"Red lettuce, green lettuce,
pomegranate, kiwi," she replied.

On the counter the pomegranate
was laid open like a murder victim.

"There's no reason we can't
make cookies too," said Phil.

He finished the bread dough,
put it into loaf pans, then
set it aside to rise again.

"JARVIS, please bring up
recipes for shortbread cookies,
Buddha's hand if available,"
Phil said. He pulled out
butter from the refrigerator.

Checking the recipes,
Phil saw that JARVIS
had indeed found one
with Buddha's hand
and also cardamom.

He was setting up
a row of ingredients
when Tony trotted
into the kitchen.

"Clint brought
Buddha's hand?"
he said. "Hey,
why don't I have
Buddha's hand?"

"You do have
Buddha's hand,"
JARVIS pointed out.
"Clint has purchased
enough for everyone."

Tony took one and
then bit right into it.

"Uh, that's not usually
how people eat these,"
Clint said, staring at him.

"Yeah, I know, this is
a shameful way to treat
a gourmet fruit," Tony said.
"But after I finally got back
from Afghanistan, everything
tasted like cave water to me.
This was one of the few things
that didn't. I like it candied too,
but I rarely feel like waiting."

"Oh hey, I love candied fruit,"
said Steve. "Can we do that?"

"I have not used all of this one
in the salad," Natasha said,
holding up a Buddha's hand
that was missing several fingers.
"You may candy the rest of it."

"JARVIS, could you please find us
a recipe for candied Buddha's hand?"
Steve asked. "I wanna try that."

"It is just a simple syrup, much
the same as other recipes for
candied citrus," said JARVIS.

Tony lit right up at that. "Oh,
I can make cocktails with this!"

"Hey Natasha, there's also
a recipe for infused vodka
on this list," Steve said as
he looked at his Starkphone.

Instantly Natasha pulled out
one of the "cooking" bottles
that stayed in a cabinet
instead of the freezer with
the "drinking" bottles."

"Send me that, and I
will make it," she said.

"I could chop pieces for
the candied Buddha's hand
and the shortbread cookies,"
Bucky offered. "Let Steve
keep working on his art."

Phil suspected that Bucky
had done all kinds of things
so Steve could stick with art.

That did mean Phil could
concentrate on the cookies,
though, and just fold in
the bits of Buddha's hand
that Bucky brought in a cup.

Now the whole kitchen
smelled like Buddha's hand,
lemon-flower-peace-and-love.

Bruce leaned over Steve's shoulder,
wholly relaxed as he rarely was,
pointing out how mudra fruit
looked like different mudras.

Steve had gone from doing
a still life to making lots of
little concept sketches
to capture the shapes.

On the other side of
Steve, Betty made
her own suggestions.

Clint empied the last few
of the Buddha's hands
out of his backpack.

Natasha was stuffing
long slices of rind down
the neck of a vodka bottle
while Bucky gathered up
the discarded pith to put
in the pot for the candy.

Tony finished scarfing down
the whole Buddha's hand
and sniffed Natasha's salad.

"Have some," she offered.
"It has pomegranate seeds
and kiwi -- you like those."

And Tony actually got
a dessert cup down and
served himself a salad.

Phil was so happy that
he just about burst.

* * *

Notes:

This poem is long, so its notes  appear separately.