Page 33 of Ra
“First, I didn’t strike you. I can show you the difference. Second, that is his food that he paid for! You don’t eat off other people’s plates!” Azi took hold of Ra’s hand and turned back to the two people whose plates he’d eaten from. “If you’ll allow me to, I’ll happily pay for your meal. And please accept our apologies.”
“It’s not necessary. And may blessings fall upon you for your patience with him,” the woman said. “Here, he can have mine. I’ll get a fresh plate.” She handed Ra her plate and walked away.
“Might as well take mine, too. I won’t eat it after he’s started it. I want fresh, too. Here,” he said, shoving his plate at Azi. “Idon’t know how you could control him, he’s bigger than you. But you should.”
“I’m trying,” Azi said, as the man walked away. Azi smiled at several others who were standing around watching, then turned to Ra, who was happily eating the rest of the food on the woman’s plate. “Come on. Let’s find a place to sit.”
Ra nodded as he followed Azi to a table and sat down.
Azi put the plate with kabobs and rice next to the vegetable plate he was eating from and he looked up at her.
“I do not have a fork.”
“I’ll get you one. Do not move from this table.”
He smiled at her and somewhere in his expression, she knew he took it as a dare. “No. I’m not leaving you here alone. Come with me.”
“I am eating!” he insisted.
“You are coming with me so that I can show you where to find things.”
“I see it! It’s food!”
“They also have desserts, and drinks, and forks, and plates. Come with me and you can get another plate of food, too.”
Ra stood eagerly. “This is the most magnificent offering of food! We feed the people. We feed the workers, and did you notice that I did not call them servants? We feed everyone and there is no limit to the amount of food they can eat!”
“It’s not an offering.”
“It is!” Ra insisted.
“Ra, it’s not. Everyone pays the same price in exchange for eating here.”
“It is an offering.”
“Why don’t you understand?”
“It is you who do not understand. Do you not see the plates of food offered by those who prepared them?” he said, gesturingto the food on the very same plates he’d gotten from those he’d angered by eating off their plates.
“Yes. I see. But it’s not an offering. It was someone else’s food that you helped yourself to. It’s why we pay at the entrance to the restaurant, so that we can have the right to eat as much as we like. No one is going to bother your food, come with me and I’ll show you where everything is.”
“It is an offering,” he grumbled as he stood and followed her. He quickly mastered filling a cup with his beloved peach tea and ice, selecting a knife and fork, and filling another plate with so many different foods that Azi wasn’t sure it wouldn’t leave a trail when he finally accompanied her back to their table.
He sat down happily and to his credit correctly used the fork he’d chosen to eat all the food on all three of his plates. When he was done he glanced up at her to find her eating a salad and sipping soup from a soup spoon. “I do not have that,” he said, pointing at her food.
“I can take you back to get some,” she said, putting her spoon down.
“I can do it myself.”
“Do you know where the soups are?”
Ra took a moment to allow his gaze to roam the entire room. Finally, he noticed a lady ladling soup into a bowl. “They are there!”
“Yes, they are. Remember, you do not eat from the buffet tables. You do not sample other people’s food. You fill a bowl and bring it back here.”
Ra grinned and nodded at her as he hurried off to get his own soup.
Azi watched just to be sure that he didn’t anger anyone else, and found something she didn’t expect. She found Ra the center of other people’s attention. Not for eating off their plates, but simply because he was a male, a very handsome male, and welldressed thanks to her. Remaining seated, she watched as three different women hurried to the soup bar to try to draw him into conversation. As each one smiled and looked up at him through her lashes, Ra remained clueless. He simply continued filling bowls with different soups. She almost got up to go help him when he looked around for assistance in carrying all four bowls of soup he’d served himself, but one of the women offered him a tray. He happily placed the bowls on it and started back toward their table. He paused only once to snag a large crusty roll from the selections of bread he walked past.
