The next evening George was waiting for us in the parking lot when we returned from the hike in the mountainous Vouni Panayia Vineyards he had recommended.

“Did you get our note?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “What was it about?”

“We want to cook for you,” he said. He wanted to show us what he had told us the night before. No argument there. The best food talking and writing can’t hold a candle to cooking and eating. We agreed without hesitation.

The scent of fresh herbs and garlic tickled our noses as we entered George and Lara’s villa. Earlier, when he invited us to dinner, George mentioned they had gathered some “weeds” to eat. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. The kitchen resembled a greenhouse overflowing with a lush garden of fresh wild greens, herbs, vegetables, and fungi . . .

Included in The World is a Kitchen travel anthology from Traveler's Tales Books

Available at independent bookshops or online at Amazon US & UK

The kids at school make jokes about my hand. It’s because of the single glove. Some days it’s white, some days silver, some days multi-coloured. It depends on my mood. The jokes don’t bother me. They don’t understand. People joke about things they don’t understand.

Take my sister for instance. She calls me Frankenstein as she smears on eye shadow in florescent colours that must have been developed aboard the Space Station. When our parents tell her to be more sensitive, she says that I was a freak long before the alligator bit my hand off . . .

Short story shortlisted for 2005 NWV emerging writer prize

Originally appeared in Ambit Magazine

Illustration by Michael Foreman

Wayne podcasts conversations with writers about their books.

Wayne's  articles, essays and short stories appear in journals, anthologies, newspapers, magazines and online in both the U.S. and U.K. In 2005, he was one of three fiction writers selected by the Arts Council of England for an NWV Award, Britain's top prize for emerging writers. He has also won a Curtis Brown scholarship and a NAW bursary. His travel writing appears most recently in The World is a Kitchen from Traveler's Tales Books.

Born in Texas, when not on the road, he splits his time between the U.S., U.K. and France. His interests include cooking, kayaking, camping, hiking, and literary history. He is especially happy when all those things overlap. He has a B.A. in dramatic literature from George Washington University and an M.A. in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. He attended law school in-between: he blames The Paper Chase.

He podcasts and keeps a blog at www.literaryconversations.com.