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untitled: Chapter 3 - Conversations, Contemplations, and.... |
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Chapter 3 - Conversations, Contemplations, and Dinner Forks
Zel parked the car as he smiled at Adrian. The boy gripped the stuff toy tightly as he smiled in the passengers seat. He led him inside the diner as they sat in a private booth. The place had comfy cushioned seats as well as dim lights to set the mood. The windows were stain glassed and the booths were separated with wooden panels giving it a more homey feel.
“Lets just hope merboy isn’t on the menu.” Zel joked as Adrian looked at him with a horrified face. “It was a joke… sorry. People don’t go around eating mer-people. In fact most of them don’t even believe they exist.” Adrian relaxed some as Zel looked at the menu. “I doubt you’re a meat eater…” The waitress came up to the table with a wide smile. She was a younger girl, in her teens, and had long blond hair tied up in the back.
“Have you gentlemen decided yet?” She spoke with a preppy and chipper voice.
“Two glasses of ice tea please. I’ll get the cooked chicken with the side of fries, a baked potato with the fix on it, a large house salad with the dressing on the side, an order of onion rings, garlic bread sticks, deep fired battered tempura, and some honeydew for desert.” Adrian looked shocked at all the odd sounding words spat out in one sentence. The girl looked just as shocked as him.
“That’s quite a lot for just the two of you.” Zel smiled.
“I can stomach a lot.” She smiled as she giggled lightly.
“You’re so thin, it’s hard to say that I’m not jealous.” The girl joked as she look off with the lost of food.
“I ordered a lot for you to try. Hope you like it.” Adrian smiled. With such a large variety of food how could he not like one thing? Zel heard a clunk on the floor as he peeked under the table. The shoes were laying on the ground as Adrian’s feet dangled. “You should keep your shoes on. I guess it doesn’t matter right now, just don’t go walking all over the restaurant without them.” He said with a smile not trying to upset the boy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Adrian smiled brightly as he looked at all the different things. He looked at Zel when he parked still holding the little stuff bunny. He wanted to take it in but Zel said bunny had to stay in the car. Oh well he figured he would look really childish holding a stuff toy. He fallowed him in and he smiled brightly. This place looked so homey and nice. It had an air about it that said ‘welcome and enjoy’ he liked that. When they sat down he put his hands on the table and kicked his feet. Though the shoes were still bothering him. When Zel mentioned merboy on the menu he looked horrified and twitched. Though he explained and he relaxed again. So mer-people weren’t so known. That was good to know. They didn’t want anyone to know about them. It was dangerous; well that’s what his dad said.
When Zel picked up the menu Adrian blinked picking up the other and looking at it. What the hell was some of this stuff. He put it down and at the meat comment he smiled, “nope” he said. He then wondered what other meat was there? When a young blonde girl came he listened to Zel and her talk. He looked confused at a lot of the stuff he had said. Ahhh what the hell was most of this stuff? What was chicken? Oi this was going to take a lot to get use to. So much stuff to learn.
Soon Adrian was looking at Zel when he said he ordered a lot of it for him. Sweet so much new things to try. Though soon he grew annoyed with the shoes and kicked them off. Oh yay freedom. Hearing Zel he blinked and looked confused. Why couldn’t he be barefoot? Was it a rule? He pouted, “I don’t like how they feel. Why can’t I be barefoot when walking around?” When Zel explained he mouthed oh and nodded. Ok guess he had to get use to them. Plus he didn’t have to ware then around the house so again a good thing. He looked around at everything before looking at Zel, “what were the stuff you ordered? What’s chicken?” he asked looking confused.
Hearing Zel explain a chicken made him laugh. It sounded like a funny animal. But why did they eat it? Then again sharks ate fish to live. So were human like sharks? He decided to ask, “So human’s are like sharks? They eat meat? but you also eat not meat?” could humans do that? Interesting, very interesting. This was all exciting him and he bounced and decided to see what else could learn.
Lets start with the stuff on the table. Adrian unwrapped a paper and saw shine things. One was a long sharp thing and one had look like a trident but smaller. He picked up the fork and played with it before flicking it and it flying and landing in his drink. This made him laugh and he bounced, “oh that was cool! What was that!” he asked bouncing more. He then picked up the knife and he moved it around and then ran his finger along it. Though something scared him and he jumped slicing his finger making him cry out. He put his finger in his mouth and put the sharp thing down and whimpered. Ok he did not like that thing it hurt.
Zel looked concerned and took his hand to see how bad. Lucky it wasn’t deep and would heal in few days. Adrian whimpered and pouted, “that thing hurt…” he said whimpering. Zel explained it and then pulled out what he called a band aid and wrapped it around his finger. He examined it and them smiled, “interesting. This is interesting.” he said smiling brightly as he bounced forgetting the pain in his finger.
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Zel sighed with a smile at the boys attempt to be free of the shoes. “There are a lot of sharp objects and hot surfaces that could badly hurt your feet. It’s more for your own protection.” He smiled at the boys next question. What was chicken? “It’s this bird that can fly and has white feathers. It clucks and makes a movement like this…” Zel imitated a chicken as Adrian cracked up in his seat. They boy asked about sharks and humans. This made Zel think. “Humans aren’t always vicious like sharks. We get our energy and strength from eating meat so its necessary for our survival. There are humans who don’t eat any meat at all. We call them vegetarians. They stick to fruits, vegetables, and tofu type products.”
Zel twitched as the fork went flying. “That’s call dangerous. You shouldn’t fling it in the air. It could hurt-” He stopped as Adrian sliced his finger. The boy whimpered as his finger withdrew into his mouth. Zel moved from his seat to sit beside him. He took Adrian’s hand as he examined the small cut. He reached inside his shoulder bag as he pulled out a small patch. “I thought this might happen…” He whipped the cut off and placed the band aid around it. “A band aid will stop the bleeding. Just don’t fiddle with it too much.” Adrian smiled as he enjoyed the band aid. Zel brought his finger close as he kissed the band aid lightly. “My mother use to always kiss my cuts and say it was to help them heal.” He smiled as he returned to his side of the booth.
Soon the girl arrived bringing the food piece by piece. Zel placed the baked potato after letting it cool for a bit in front of him. It had sour cream, small onions, and melted cheese on top. He showed Adrian how to use the fork. It didn’t take long for him to get the hang of it. He was giving the salad next. The lettuce reminded him of seaweed. Next he was offered some onion rings, the tempura vegetables, a piece of garlic bread, some fires off of Zel’s plate, and the succulent honeydew to finish the amazing feast off. Zel smiled when they were all done. “Wow. I didn’t think you two boys would actually finish it all.” The girl said as Zel lightly laughed. “Anything else with that tonight?”
“No thank you.” Zel said as he handed her his credit card. He rummaged through his bag as the girl vanished with the card. “The card is a way of giving her money for the food. The money is giving to her from the card and then I pay it back later.” He explained knowing the boy would ask. He dropped five dollars on the table as he rose.
“What’s that for?” Adrian asked as he put his shoes back on and stood up as well.
“That’s a tip for the young girl. It’s money that she gets to keep for herself for giving us excellent service, almost like… a reward.” He tried to explain as the girl returned with a receipt and the card. Zel placed it in his wallet as he walked outside. He stretched as he watched the sun slowly fading behind the mountains in the far off distance.
“The air is so soft and refreshing tonight, wouldn’t you agree?” Zel said with a smile before heading back to the car.
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Adrian had blushed when Zel kissed his finger and smiled, “it does feel better!” he said giggling and bouncing more. Soon the food came and it all smelled sooo good. He looked at all of it and wondered what to try first! Though Zel picked it for him and he put the baked potato in front of him and told him what it was. So this was the bake potato. After figuring out the proper use of the fork he dug into the potato not even going near the knife again. One bite and his eyes lit up and he nommed on it happily. When that was done he bounced and looked to see what would be given next.
The salad came and Adrian had to laugh happily something that looked like what he ate! He dug in and when he was told to try the dressing he did and he smiled more. Oh this was good this had to be his favorite. But the potato was close. When he finished that off he tried the onion rings and had more fun playing with them then eating them. But he found them good none the less. The fried veggies or Tempura was amazing and the fries not so much but they still were good. When they got to the fruit he was in heaven. It was as if sweet met juicy. It was amazing! He even had a few glasses of ice tea which he swore was the best drink ever; even though he hadn’t tasted anything else.
Soon though it was gone and Adrian didn’t get to try the chicken; next time. He watched the girl come back and he smiled brightly at her and bounced nodding. He laughed as well at her comment. He didn’t think he’d finish it either. Though he watched him pull out a card and blinked some looking confused. Strange looking thing and before he could ask Zel explained. Oh that was cool. They traded things for what they wanted. He then pulled out a small green paper and put it on the table, “What’s that for?” he asked standing up as well. When it was explained he smiled and nodded, “Oh. That’s nice of you to do that” he said as he put on his yucky yet cool looking shoes.
Once outside he watched the sunset and smiled some. It did look really pretty he never seen it like this before. Adrian looked at Zel and nodded, “it’s nice. The air smells so different here. Yet cleaner. Instead of salty air you smell something crisp and fresh. It’s nice.” he said nodding and then fallowed him back to the car. This world was so big and different and scary, but at the same time beautiful. How could something so scary be so beautiful. The more he seem and the short time he been around with Zel, he realized it wasn’t so scary. He just didn’t know. It made him want to learn more to understand the world above.
Adrian then realized this would be the first night being away from home; well the first night he was aware of. He sighed someone and held the bunny tightly. Zel seemed to noticed and frowned, “what’s wrong?” He had asked him.
Adrian looked at him and bit his lip, “this is the first night that I know of I’m away from home. I never been away from home before. I don’t even know how far or how long I been gone.” he said frowning more. Tears begin form as he realized as much as he wanted to stay and learn. He wanted his family. He wanted his own home. Even if he went back here again he wanted to tell his family he was safe. He didn’t even know how to get back. He feared he never would. Then what would happen? He didn’t fit in this place. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to stay and learn but he wanted home to. Could he have both?
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Zel placed his arm around Adrian as he comforted him. He held him close as the boy began to weep. He could tell how much he missed his family. They didn’t talk much as Zel drove him. Adrian passed out for a few minutes until they reached the house. Zel brought him inside as he rubbed his eyes, tired from the weeping and worry. He brought Adrian to the desk as he told him to wait there. He returned almost twenty minutes later with papers and pictures tucked under his arm.
“These are oceans around this area here.” He spread a few pictures on the desk. They were all professionally photographed and had an almost surreal feel to them. Adrian touched the pictures as he took in the sight of the frozen waves. It brought a small smile to his face. Zel spread more pictures to the side.
“These here are smaller rivers and lakes in case you’ve ever taken a path around here. The structure of the land should be in almost the same shape form below. See if you recognize any of the bends.” Zel took a map as he pinned it to the wall in front of Adrian. Most of it was covered in water which made Adrian look in awe. There was so much sea, reefs, and oceans to cover in one night. More amazing pictures flew across the desk as Zel matched them to the map making it like a giant puzzle.
They spent a good portion of the night searching through pictures. Adrian snored as he lay flat on the desk. His necklace flew across the desk as it remained safely around his neck. Zel placed a warm blanket over him as he began to walk into the kitchen for a drink. A dim light caught his eyes as he turned back to Adrian. A single picture lit brightly as it flew from the desk and landed on the floor in front of Zel. He picked it up as he brought it to the map to examine the area. “This picture is… of the Madison Ravine. That’s quite the distance from here. If I remember correctly…”
He took a red marker as he began to doodle on the map. “There’s a waterfall here, and this water runs through this canyon pretty deep down the path and finally leads to…” He drew a line as he circled the name. “Oradon Ocean. It looks as if this is the quickest way there.” He looked down at the now dim necklace with a smile.
“Thanks grandma. I owe you.” He pinned the picture up of the water running canyon as he headed to the bedroom, ready for a goodnights rest.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Adrian felt Zel hold him and it felt nice. He cried and soon feel asleep tired from crying. He didn’t even notice them getting back and Zel carrying him inside till he started to wake and rub his eyes. He blinked when he was placed at the desk and nodded at him. He then began to look at all the different things in awe. Some of it was weird and some looked pretty cool. When Zel returned a bit later he blinked looking confused. What was he holding? How would these things help him find his home? They didn’t look so special.
When he saw the pictures he was in awe. These were all pictures of the ocean. What were pictures? When he touched one he smiled. They were things to capture a place? How did they get the capture? What did they use to get this? It was beautiful and it made him smile to see this. He then heard Zel explain more and nodded. He looked at all the pictures laid in front of him. None of this looked familiar so far. And when Zel put a map on the wall his eyes grew big and he looked in awe. That was all water? That was a lot of water to cover… How could they find it in time?
As they looked Adrian was getting tired and soon he laid his head down and started to doze off. With in minutes he was asleep and snoring lightly. He dreamed of the ocean and the family he left behind. He wondered what they were doing. Were they looking for him? Was his father mad? What were his siblings doing? How was his mother handling it? So many questions running threw his mind. He wanted to be home so bad. But he wanted to learn more. He had so many questions to ask. He had so much to learn and try. He wondered what other things tasted like. So many choices and wants. How would he handle it all.
 Derres Sinn_89 · Mon Nov 28, 2011 @ 06:52am · 0 Comments |
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