Upon entering the cafeteria, he saw long wooden tables that were spaced evenly throughout the whole of the building. The tables were flanked by two benches, one on each side. He was struck by the nostalgia of what school had been like for him as a child. Of course, it didn’t help that he had just been spoken to like he was a child by a sixty-year-old woman. The room was filled with rich smells of cooked food that through his time in the forest he had almost forgotten. The smell of meat that was much richer than anything he had ever dreamed of having again wafted through the soft air currents of the open building. He could see steam and the humidity that it left behind in the open kitchen of the cafeteria. The walls were just as black as any in the city, but they were buffed to a higher shine. He surmised that this could be because of the amount of wet air that was concentrated here.
He scanned the tables. There were a few occupants filling the room, some were sitting alone, but others were with small groups of three of four. He scanned the back side of the room and just as he recognized Acharya, the man lifted his head up from his companions and waved for him to come join them. William smiled back at the welcome familiarity of the man’s face and raised his own arm in greeting. He strode to the back side of the building where he could see the familiar rails and slide with the equally familiar tubs of food separated by a glass partition.
William grabbed an all-white tray that had half a dozen sections depressed into the material. There was a large square shape and a large circle with three other depressions filling out the rectangle shape of the tray itself. He smiled at the tray. He placed the tray on the stainless-steel runner and grabbed a fork, a knife and a spoon from the bins that sat next to the clean pile of trays. He slowly walked down the line. There was only one girl standing behind the partition. She wore a paper hat that covered every strand of her hair. Her pale skin had a slight sheen to it, he guessed from being over the hot food and having the steam constantly bathe her in heat and water. Her round pale green eyes, were sharp but not unkind, she did smile at William as he passed by the first tub of food.
The woman grabbed the tray from him and heaped a generous amount of what smelled like pot roast into the large square depression on his tray. She moved down the line and plopped a good amount of boiled potatoes and steamed carrots into the circle depression. Her hands moved with a practiced strength that he admired. She didn’t slop any water or gravy onto the floor even though her movements were quick and seemed to be somewhat careless. She moved down once more and scooped up two large dinner rolls and grabbed two pats of butter for them. William was impressed by the speed and care that this woman took serving him. She moved down the line once more and grabbed one pear and set that onto the tray. William was about to accept the tray from her when she turned around, taking the tray with her.
Stolen story; please report.
William almost blurted out some form of outrage, but a moment later he was glad that he hadn’t. The girl turned around with his tray still in her hands. His tray now carried a large breakfast plate. The breakfast plate was supporting a large chunk of chocolate cake. The girl smiled at him through a thin sheen or sweat and handed over the heavily laden tray. William accepted the tray with an awkward smile of his own. He nodded as he said his thanks to the young woman and turned away from the food line. He noticed that at the end of the line there was an assortment of tall glasses, each filled with cool clear water. He shifted his dinner tray to one hand and grabbed one of the glasses.
William made his way through the long room. He took a moment to glance around at the all-black interior of the cafeteria. There were no posters, no signs, no nothing. This room was exactly like his bedroom, completely blank. This struck him as being a bit sad.
It wasn’t too hard to locate Acharya. He was sitting with his back to the wall of the room. His pack mates were sitting around him. There was talking and some laughter that he heard from a distance. Has it been so long since I have heard laughter at a meal? His footsteps slowed and he was struck with how alien the simple act of laughing and conversing over a meal had become to him.
“William, what are you waiting for, come join us.”
William walked over to the group. Acharya and his pack had ended their conversation and watched as William made his way over to them. He stopped for the barest of seconds before he took a seat which had opened up for him right in the middle of the group, opposite of Acharya. He nodded to each of the members of the pack in turn and bowed slightly to Acharya.
“Thank you, I appreciate the offer.”
“Not at all.” Acharya was smiling at him in a very disarming, genuine way as if the young man was actually happy to see him and share his company. Not a reaction that William had come to expect from almost total strangers.
William looked around at the group once more as they all started eating again. He recognized, Mary and Aiman. That dark skinned woman who he suspected might be of Native American decent, and the pale skinned woman. But there was somebody missing. His mind worked for a second or two before the answer smacked him in the face, the wolf born member of their pack was nowhere to be seen.
Acharya must have noticed William questioning, wandering glances because he asked, “Did you lose something?”
His eyes snapped back to the man who was facing him as he finished chewing and swallowed a piece of potato. After a moment he said behind a raised hand. “No, I was just wandering where the wolf of your pack was.”
Acharya had a bemused look on his face. William cocked his head to the side in a questioning gesture.
Acharya smiled at the newcomer and said in a very offhanded way. “The wolf born would never come into this building, much less eat here.” The rest of his pack nodded in agreement and went on with their meals as if that answered everything.
William looked up once more at Acharya. “Why is it that the wolf born would never come in here?”