Free Always a Lady by Sharon Sala Page A

answered.
    "It's kind of an annual tradition. Neighbors come bringing everything good to eat and I furnish the meat. Duff, my foreman, is an expert when it comes to outdoor cooking. Usually we help him with the calf fries, but the side of beef is his priority."
    "Calf fries?" Lily hadn't heard the term before but the answer she received did nothing to assure her that she was ever going to let a morsel of it pass her lips.
    "You mean you eat . . . you cook what was . . . people actually want to eat what was once . . ." laughter was rising around the table as she continued in shocked horror, ". . . the reproductive organs of poor unfortunate animals?" Lily gasped and pressed her fingers to her lips.
    "Oh God! Lily, you're priceless." Case couldn't contain his mirth. "That's the most ladylike description I ever heard put to . . ."
Lily interrupted him before he could finish.
    "I don't eat such things, and I can't imagine anyone else doing so either." Her indignation was rising.
    Case leaned back in his chair in full view of everyone in the restaurant and let a full belly laugh flow forth. He couldn't help it. His L.A. woman was suddenly out of her depth in more ways than one.
    "Remember when I was afraid you'd feed my men sunflower seeds?" Case said, trying to pull himself together. "Well, why don't you just look at calf fries as . . . hamburger seeds? After all, if they'd stayed where nature intended, somewhere down the road they'd have been responsible for hamburger. What do you think?"
    "I think you're all full of bull," Lily said distinctly, as she rose and excused herself from the table. "And I think I should go powder something . . . or," she mumbled as she walked away from the table, "take a powder. It might be safer. I'm definitely outnumbered tonight."
    The next few days saw increased activity as the roundup got back in full swing and preparations for the barbecue began. Lily was relieved that the night would amount to an evening off for her. She didn't have the usual mountain of food to prepare, only some fruit pies as her contribution to the buffet. She'd refused point blank to have anything to do with cooking the small, oval, milky-white slices that would ultimately result in the famous calf fries.
    Just remembering their origin made her wince. Poor animals! It did no good to listen to Case's patient explanations about the futility of having too many bulls on the same ranch and the dangers of inbreeding that could result. It just wasn't something she was comfortable discussing. Now if they'd wanted to discuss the stock market instead of the beef market, she'd have been more confident. But she was in the wrong place and the wrong state for such matters. Oklahoma was definitely more than a state of the union, it was a state of mind.
    "Lilleee!" Buddy's bawl echoed down the long staircase and throughout the downstairs area with persistent pathos.
    She rolled her eyes, dusted the flour from her hands, and eyed the fruit pies. They were at a safe stage to leave for a few minutes. From the sound of her brother's call, he was in some sort of difficulty. However, with Buddy, it wasn't always easy to tell.
    She started throught the wide, spacious downstairs, letting her eyes feast on the old-fashioned, almost Victorian look the house wore and knew that nothing had been changed or redecorated since Case was a child. But she liked it. It was always clean, open and inviting, and she wished she had an excuse to venture through it more often. Case had a professional cleaning crew who came weekly. They did their job, stayed out of Lily's way when she was busy, and disappeared as quietly as they appeared.
    At first the presence of two men and one woman who moved throughout the house in their crisp green coveralls like garden shadows was disconcerting. But now she took them as a matter of course and was grateful for the fact that all she had to do was cook. The house was enormous and almost more than one person could have managed. It