Inktober 2022

When you work in a restaurant by the sea in the UK, you can’t get away from fish and clams, especially scallops. I pay more attention to them since I’m usually the one who gets to crack them open, which I enjoy. By the way, I’m just an assistant in the kitchen so I usually just prepare the ingredients. Plus, apparently scallops can occasionally make pearls, so it’s pretty fun.

As I worked my way through the basket of them that was given to me, I hummed a little tune, pliers working swiftly through practice and habit. First I’d pry it open, break apart the shell, then take a good look at it, since who knows when the day I find something precious will arrive? After that, I just pinch out the typically eaten part of the scallop, perhaps the nastiest part, then chuck what’s left in another basket. Sometimes I do keep some pretty shells that aren’t used for plating, just as decorations or even little gifts to people.

Speaking of pretty ones, I spotted a slightly purple shell near the bottom of the box as I reached in, so I scooped it out quickly, looking at the closed shell. It was quite pretty, a purplish hue going over most of the shell with some darker splotches. I’ll probably try to keep this one, it looks nice and is actually pretty big too. I hummed as I grabbed my little pliers again, getting to work to pry it open.

This turned out to be a bit harder than expected, but I did manage to open up a slit which was basically halfway down the path to victory. Habitually, I peered inside for pearls and for the first time, there was actually a shiny orb inside. My split second of excitement soon turned into a chill however, when I realized at a better angle that it was no pearl, but an eye.