As soon as Blue, Micah, and Lionel were gone, Cory offered Macks a seat. “Would you like a cup of tea or a bowl of cooked oats while I finish my breakfast?”

“Ogres don’t drink tea,” said Macks. “It gives us indigestion. I’d eat the cooked oats, though.”

Cory got another bowl from the cupboard and began to fill it. “Tell me when it’s enough,” she told the ogre.

He watched intently as she dropped one spoonful after another into the bowl, but didn’t say anything until the pot was empty. “That should be enough,” he said, although Cory had a feeling he would have taken more if there had been any.

Macks looked surprised when Cory offered him the brown sugar. When he tried a little on the oats, his eyes lit up and he reached for the sugar again. Enough sugar went on the oats to turn them brown, but Macks seemed to love it. “You are a very good cook!” he declared when he’d finished, and proceeded to lick the bowl.

“Thank you,” Cory said, remembering that Blue had told her that ogres licked their plates if they thought the food was delicious. She wondered if all of them got indigestion from tea and liked sugar as much as Macks did. It made her think about how little she knew of ogres. Because her own true love was half ogre, Cory thought she really should learn all she could about them.

“Say, I was wondering,” Macks said when he handed her the bowl. “Do you usually spread mud on your porch? Some ogres prefer it that way, but I don’t remember seeing mud there the other day.”

Cory shook her head. “The flower fairies put it there. They’ve been doing all sorts of things to harass me.”

“Do you want me to wash it off?” the ogre asked. “I like working with mud.”

“That would be very helpful,” Cory told him. “The hose is around back.”

“I’ll find it,” he said.

“And then I’d like to go to the market,” said Cory. “If I’m going to make pies to take to the party tomorrow, I need to buy some berries.”

“Lots of berries, you mean,” said Macks. “You’ll need them to make lots of pies!”

While Cory went to her room to get dressed, Macks went to look for the hose. He was still washing off the porch when she came back out, so she washed the dirty dishes and straightened up the kitchen. The ogre was waiting for her when she finished. Grabbing her purse, she followed him outside.

“The porch looks great!” Cory said as she locked the door. “Thank you for cleaning it.”

“I enjoyed it,” said Macks. “Before we go, there’s something I want to set straight.”

“What is it?” Cory asked, tucking her keys in her purse.

“I just wanted you to know that I’m not available,” the ogre told her. “I have a girlfriend, and you have Blue.”

Cory was stunned. “I never thought—”

“I’m telling you this because I know that most girls find me irresistible, and I wouldn’t want you to get your hopes up. I had to fend them off with a stick when I was in school. I took that stick everywhere. I named it Ingbar. Blue has been my best friend since we were little gruntlings. My father and his father were best friends, too. I would never do anything to hurt Blue.”