The Thing from the Fridge

"I've got a theory."

Simon looked up hopefully.

"Banana pudding." Simon made a face, but Lisa pressed on. "The lunch cart in Trautman Hall carries it. You know, with the sandwiches and those cookies and muffins."

"Yeah... but it comes in plastic cups. This is tupperware."

"Well..., it could have been transferred." Lisa knew that was a lame suggestion though. Besides, there was the timing issue. The container was found behind an old bottle of diet Dr. Pepper and carbonation dating clearly placed that part of the fridge at pre-summer 2004. The food cart in Trautman Hall hadn't appeared until Fall 2004.

"What about asparagus?" Jill thought out loud. "Kathy used to eat that stuff all the time. She graduated last year."

"No, no, no!" Simon jabbed a finger at his lab notebook. "The sugar content is all wrong for the level of fermentation we're seeing here!"

"You're right, you're right." Lisa chewed her finger in thought. "It almost has to be a dessert."

Simon was still shaking his head.

"Not with the ratio of simple to complex sugars we see in the spectrograph. I already thought of candied yams from last thanksgiving—"

"Oooh!"

"—but it doesn't fit our data."

"Maybe—I don't know—some kind of fruit dish."

Lisa and Simon looked at each other simultaneously. They shared a vision of Professor Fredricks, his jaw wired shut following an elbowing incident in the first and last interdepartmental basketball tournament.

"Applesauce!" they exclaimed together.

And that had to be it. It was so obvious now. The burnt orange tupperware absolutely screamed "University of Texas" which of course was Fredrick's alma mater.

Simon laughed. Jill smiled.

"One more shelf to go. We should have this fridge cleaned out by the end of the week."