dinner

“Hello. Welcome to Les Shwoss Cheir. My name is Randolph. Tonight we have a special. We have pheasant slow roasted and covered in orange sauce served with green apple, walnuts and licorice.”

“We’ll start with a bottle of water for the two of us and one of Golden Apple Tarts for an appetizer.”

“Yes sir.”

The waiter walked away. The couple stared at him as he left. The man stared at his shoes. The woman stared at his butt. The man turned to the woman. He looked at her as she watched the waiter walk away.

“These fancy restaurants are always so dark. Have you noticed that? The more expensive and fancy a restaurant is, the darker it is.”

The woman turned her head from the waiter, moving her eyes last.

“I’ve never been in a place this nice before.”

“I know. I wanted to take you somewhere nice though.”

The woman smiled at the man.

“I know you did. This place is wonderful. You’re wonderful.”

She put her hand down on the table on top of his. He smiled back at her. He pulled his hand back and picked up the piece of paper in front of him and looked at the menu. The menu only had three choices. The restaurant must be good at what they do. If he’s going to throw all this money away on just food, they must be pretty good at what they do. The woman looked at her menu. The man could feel waves coming off of the woman’s body. He couldn’t see them. He didn’t know what they were, but he could feel them. Waves of feeling, waves of emotion Powerful waves. Waves that would eventually overwhelm him, if he weren’t careful.

The waiter came back with an unopened glass bottle of water. He put down two clean glasses in front of the woman and then the man. He used a bottle opener and then pulled the cork out of the bottle. He then filled the woman’s glass and then the man’s glass. He put the bottle on the table and walked away. The man sighed and picked up his glass. The glass made a clicking sound as it knocked against the man’s teeth. It made the man’s eyes hurt. The woman was still looking at the menu.

The waiter came back with the Golden Apple Tart and two small plates and two small forks. He put the tart in the middle and then placed a fork and plate in front of each of them.

“Have you two had enough time to decide what you want?”

The woman looked at the man expectantly. He scraped his fingers along the table cloth. He ground his back teeth a little. He could feel the tension.

“What do you recommend?”

“Well personally, sir, I’d recommend the special tonight. Our specials are usually some of the best things that we have here.”

The waiter looked down at the man. He leaned his head down as he was talking and straightened his back. The man leaned away from the waiter in his chair. He wiped his hands on his lap.

“Well that sounds ok.”

“Yes, sir.”

The waiter straightened and walked away.

The man put his glass up to his mouth again. His teeth clicked on the glass again. He put his glass down and used his napkin to wipe off his forehead.

“Don’t use your napkin to wipe the sweat off your forehead!”

The woman looked at him. He could feel her eyes staring into his. He felt the backs of his eyes pulsing.

“What else was I going to use?”

“Use a handkerchief, not your napkin!”

The man smoothed the napkin out on his lap.

“Ok.”

He looked down at his napkin.

“Ok.”

The man was nervous. The meal would be expensive. He would have to cut back afterwards. The man squinted his eyes. Why did he always think about money? Why did it always come back to money? Money always made him sad and worried. There wasn’t anything that he could do though.

“You know, I think that this is a very nice place.”

He looked at the woman. She was like a tiger. A tigress. He was being hunted like a near-dead animal. She was going to slow roast him life a pheasant over a spit.

“It is. I’m glad you like it.”

The woman put her hand on top of the man’s and smiled again. His hand was on fire. Her hand was burning him. He was screaming and flailing.

“You know, I think that it’s alright to indulge every once and a while. Especially for occasions like this.”

The woman smiled and his hand stopped burning. He could feel the waves that were coming off her melt the ice cream that was on top of the tart that they had ordered. They had forgotten that they had ordered the tart. They started eating it. The man cut a portion of the tart off and put it on the small plate in front of him. The woman was eating pieces off of the large plate in between the two of them.

It was hard to see. The lights were dim enough that the man couldn’t see well. He felt uneasy. He couldn’t see what was around him more than two or three feet away. When the woman would sit back, he would squint to see her face.

The man noticed soft piano music coming from somewhere in the restaurant. He hadn’t heard the music before. The man began to get nervous. He noticed that the floor was marble. His shoes were making a clicking sound as he bounced his leg. He took a drink and heard a clicking sound as the glass hit his teeth. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

The woman put both of her hands in her lap and stared at him silently. He wasn’t looking at her. He was too busy refilling his glass from the bottle of water. She clasped her hands and made a soft purring sound in the back of her throat.