Shrimp, Crab, or Crayfish Boil

Through there came a smell of garlic and cloves and red pepper, a blast of hot cloud escaped from a cauldron they could see now on a stove at the back of the other room. A massive back, presumably female, with a twist of gray hair on top, stood with a ladle akimbo. A young man joined her and with his fingers stole something out of the pot and ate it. At Baba’s they were boiling shrimp.

Eudora Welty, “No Place for You, My Love”