Once the kindling was lit up, Rex shoved a few logs underneath the cauldron. In a few minutes, a large fire was crackling.

"I'm going to cut the stems of the apples," I said. "Do any of you have a small knife?"

"There's no way you're gonna be touching a knife," Lionel immediately replied. "I'll do it for you, just tell me how."

"What!?" I complained. "How am I supposed to cook if I can't even use a knife? Don't be ridiculous..."

"It's not ridiculous. We don't want you to hurt yourself," Rex explained, then paused before adding, "Or hurt someone else."

"Anyways, just tell us how to do it," Isaac said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a switchblade.

I sighed, knowing that even if I tried to beg, it would be in vain. "Just use the knife to cut out the stem. Cut a small circle around it, and then you can toss the stem straight into the fire, and throw the apple into the pot since it's already been washed."

The boys started working, while I sat down to peel the oranges, carefully taking apart the skin and dropping it in the baskets to throw away later.

"Why aren't you burning those peels?" Rex asked.

I shrugged.

"Burnt orange peel probably doesn't smell that good."

"Well, let's try it," Lionel said, before grabbing all of the peels in the basket and tossing them straight into the fire. "Maybe it'll actually smell good, we don't know."

The fire crackled louder as the oils on the peels interacted with the fire, and in a few seconds, the air filled with a light citrus scent.

"That is a pretty nice smell," I commented, breathing in the air deeply.

Lionel took a deep breath as well, but stood too close to the fire, inhaled a lungful of smoke, and started coughing uncontrollably.

"You alright!?" I asked, rubbing him on the back.

He coughed two more times before managing to nod his head, then glared at Rex and Isaac who continued to laugh.