Page 15 of Ra (The Scarab Prophecy #1)

The restaurant was crowded, with people coming and going.

As many were entering the building as there were finishing their meals and leaving, and yet more were meandering around the dozens of buffet tables offering endless amounts and varieties of meats, vegetables, fruits, breads, numerous condiments and sauces, and desserts.

“What is this place?” Ra asked.

“It’s a restaurant. There are many choices of foods you can try. I thought it would be a good option for you since you want to try several different things.”

“This is a wondrous place,” Ra said, wandering closer to the buffet tables.

“Do not go in there without me. I have to pay first.”

“Yes, yes. I understand,” he said absentmindedly as she stopped to pay for them both to eat lunch.

By the time she’d finished paying, put her credit card back into her wallet, her wallet in her purse, and looked around for him, he was gone. “Ra?!” she called out.

No answer.

“Ra? Where are you?!”

Then she heard it. Raised voices. Anger. “Dear god,” she mumbled as she changed direction and moved toward the disturbance.

~~~

Ra wandered between the tables, his nose in the air as he appreciated the scent of so many different foods filling the large dining room.

“This is the best offering of food that I’ve ever seen,” he said, reaching out and taking several lamb meatballs off the buffet.

He stood there, and ate several more before he moved down the line and chose a piece of chicken.

He held it by the leg and ate it while smiling at everyone who shot him glances.

Then he began to notice the other foods, the vegetables and rices.

One lady went by with a plate piled high with King string beans and glazed carrots.

When she paused to glare at him because he was standing there eating from the buffet rather than filling a plate and taking a seat to eat, he reached out and took several beans and a carrot off her plate.

“Thank you, for your offering,” he told her regally.

“Hey! You do not eat off others’ plates! What is wrong with you?!” she demanded.

“One does not raise their voice at Ra!” he said warningly.

Several others stopped to see what the commotion was about, and Ra noticed kabobs lying across a bed of rice on a man’s plate. “That looks delicious!” he said, picking up one of the kabobs and taking a bite of it before returning it to the man’s plate.

“Don’t touch my food!” the man shouted, advancing on Ra.

“Do you know who you’re shouting at? I can remove you from…” Ra began.

“Ra! Stop it right now!” Azi scolded, inserting herself between the small group of people that had assembled to see the crazy man eating off other people’s plates and the buffet itself.

“I am merely trying all the offerings available!” Ra told her.

“The food is not an offering! It’s a buffet! And the proper way to eat it is to take a plate and put whatever you want to try on the plate, and go sit at your table to eat.”

“But I want to try more than is on a plate!”

“Then you get two plates. Or you eat one, then come back and get another.”

“What is wrong with him?!” the woman demanded angrily again.

“I’m sorry. He’s not sure how to interact in certain situations. He’s never been to a buffet before.”

“Do not apologize for me! I am Ra! They should beg my forgiveness!”

The woman looked at him with her mouth hanging open before something finally clicked in her brain. “Ah, I understand. He’s Ra,” she said, her brows raised, her head nodding firmly as she looked from Azi to the other people standing nearby and watching.

“Yes. He is Ra. Thank you so much for understanding.”

“It’s not a problem, but perhaps you could be a little more aware of his location when you take him for outings.”

“You’re right. He slipped away while I was paying. I’m so sorry for any inconvenience,” Azi said.

Ra had grown bored with the entire situation and was reaching out toward the man’s kabob once more.

“No!” Azi shouted, as she lightly slapped at his hand.

“How dare you strike me?!” he demanded, holding his hand protectively against his chest as he looked accusingly at Azi.

“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. “I don’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, gesturing to 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 well dressed 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.

Sliding into his seat across from her he used both hands to gesture toward his collection of soups. “I did it,” he said smugly.

“I saw that. You did well.”

“I did.” He started eating and didn’t look up again for a while.

Azi finished her food, then watched him for a little longer. “You didn’t introduce me to your friends,” she said. “I thought surely you would invite them to join us.”

“Friends?” he asked.

“The women, helping you fill and carry your bowls of soup.”

Ra watched her for a few seconds, and she had no doubt he was considering his answer. He might not have a bit of social grace, but he was far from a stupid man. “They are not my friends.”

“But they wanted to be,” Azi pointed out.

“Perhaps.”

“We could invite them,” she said, trying to find his limits.

He shook his head slowly as he lifted his last bowl of soup and drank down what was left of it. He put his bowl down and used his napkin to dab at his lips.

“Don’t you want friends?”

“I don’t need friends.”

“Because you’re Ra,” she said.

“No. Because I have you. You’re the only female I care to be friends with.”

“They might be nice,” she pushed.

“It doesn’t matter, dear Azenath.”

“Of course it does.”

“No, it does not.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because. They are not you.”