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“One or two gold coins will be plenty,” he said with an easy grin.
“Nope.” Kate scowled at the male, which made no sense to me. He was making this simple for us. “Run the debit card, please.”
The male huffed. “If you say so.” He gazed longingly at me.
Kate lifted the tray loaded with two dishes, each holding a round blob of creamy confection and plastic spoons. Paper products to wipe our mouths after we ate completed our order.
As she started toward a table, I tossed the young male a gold coin.
“For your troubles,” I said softly.
“Oh, cool,” he breathed. “Come back soon!”
With a grin, I followed Kate, sitting beside her at a table. I nodded to a phoenix sitting on the other end, alone. He slowly ate a cone with a white cream topping. Like other phoenixes, he was tall and had a bulky build, plus lightly feathered wings lying tightly against his back. His dark hair and wings were shot through with orange and gold, the gold matching his eyes and his skin tone.
Kate handed me the scrap of paper, placing her own on her lap. I did the same.
“Dig in,” she said, watching me.
“Aren’t you going to eat too?”
“I have to watch the amazement appear on your face first. Go ahead.” She prodded one of the white blobs with the tip of her spoon. This one had brown lumps in it, which couldn’t be tasty. “That’s Moose Tracks.”
In case it tasted horrible, I scooped only a tiny bit into my spoon.
I held it up, scrutinizing it for a long while.
The swirling colors—deep brown and a creamy white—were inviting. It smelled sweet, a good thing. If I hated it, it would disappoint Kate. And while she was correct that I must use my own needs and wishes to guide me in my exploration of and assimilation into this world, I wanted to please her.
I loved her and seeing the joy on her face when I experienced new things made the less desirable activities and cultural aspects of this realm more appealing.
As soon as I placed the spoonful into my mouth, I knew I'd found something nearly as wonderful as licking Kate. The texture was smooth, yet indulgent to the tongue. It was divine—not too sweet, not too rich, but a perfect balance between the two. The crunchy lump I’d expected to taste nasty gave me a delightful surprise. It melted on my tongue much too fast.
“We need to get large cones for my aunt,” I declared while Kate grinned.
“Like it, huh?”
“Almost as tasty as you,” I said in her ear.
“Then try this one next.” She scooped up a pink blob and held it out to me.
This one was nearly as good as the Moose Tracks. By the time I’d finished trying them all, I’d found my favorite—coffee.
“Oh, shit,” the phoenix sitting at our table cried out. He stood abruptly, and his ice cream dropped from his hand, landing with a smack on the wooden table.
His wings flared out, the gold catching the sunlight. He peered around. “Where is she?”
With a gasp, he burst into flames.
A few humans cried out.
We monsters watched.
“What . . .? What . . .?” Kate said, rising to rush toward him.
I held her back. “It’s okay.”
Within seconds, he stopped burning and with a poof, he disappeared, leaving only a charred puff of smoke coiling toward the ground and a few feathers until . . . A pop, and he reformed as a big bird in colors that rivaled a glorious sunset.
