Chapter 5- The most disgusting feeding habits

Wilson and Dale quietly rode on. Wilson in the two-wheeled carriage and Dale sitting in the front holding on to the ropes used to keep the horse-like beast in place. They travelled on day after day using the man-made roads used to connect the villages to the city, without them seeing any other person, covering a bit of distance each day before stopping to rest at night. They barely spoke with each other. There was nothing to speak about anyway. A full week had passed before they finally arrived at the next village. The first thing Wilson noted was that the village was larger than the one he grew up in. It could almost qualify to be called a city.

 ‘Maybe in a few more years’ Wilson thought to himself.

 “We will stop here tonight!” Dale said as he slowed the beast down to a stop in front of an inn. They entered the inn and saw a lot of people in a bar. Some men were drinking quietly, some people were singing and many others seemed to want to pay for rooms as well, struggling to get the receptionist to respond to them quickly. Wilson grimaced at the thought of him having to struggle to get the receptionist’s attention, so we was glad when Dale told him to simply sit at an empty table.

Dale looked around, taking in the scenery and walked towards a closed curtain that separated the bar from another room. Several minutes later, Dale was still in that secluded room doing god-knows-what. An old waitress served Wilson a huge plate of meat and vegetables and left without a word. Wilson looked at that plate of food for a long time, salivating and trying to remember if he had seen such food before. After another fifteen minutes or so, he began to wonder if it was alright to eat all alone. His mom had always waited for him to arrive before she ate. She would never eat before he got back home and was ready to eat no matter how late he happened to be. So, he decided to wait some more time.

Twenty minutes passed. Then, another twenty minutes. Then, another and another and another. By the time Wilson gave up on waiting for him, he realized that he had been drooling for a long, long time. Long enough to have made a pool of wet, sticky drool on his trousers. He made a decision,

 “I cannot wait any longer, I have done my best! I wonder how mother could do this, waiting for so long. She must have been starving all the time! Mothers are really the best!” he muttered to himself.

And without further ado, he sank his teeth into the meat. Eating like a starved carnivore. People around could hear him eating and turned around to see a particular boy eating. The entire bar was soon quiet as every single being in it looked on with apparent looks of disgust written on their faces. Wilson didn’t look up and so, did not see their faces. Neither did he notice that the bar was suddenly quiet because even he could not hear beyond his own eating voice. He ravished the meal while talking to himself and praising the meal. Not minding the drool that slipped out of his mouth as he chomped and chewed on the meat completely ignoring the vegetables.

 “From the looks of it, it’s like watching a pack of hyenas eating from the same mouth!” A man muttered to himself.

Nobody said a word aloud as if they were warned not to, while watching on. Too disgusting to look at and yet too intriguing to look away. Nobody could muster up the courage to look away first as  their faces were glued to this scene.

Wilson finally finished his meal, drank some water and looked up, away from his plate, to see a large number of people quietly watching him. He was confused. He could see a lot of facial expressions, some faces were blank, some amused and most faces exhibited disgust, pain and pity for the piece of meat.

He looked back down at his plate and finally understood why! There were bits of meat and vegetables as well as signs of spittle everywhere. On the plate, the table, his clothes and on touching his face he noticed a few bits of it. He remembered everything he had done and immediately and rightfully guessed that they saw him as an animal. An ugly, disgusting animal. With a shameful look on his face, he left the bar to look for a place to shower and change. He did not return to the inn after that and instead slept on a wide, thick-branched tree some distance away from the inn, close to the carriage he had gotten used to.

*************

Dale woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. He finally had a good sleep last night. He got up, took a long bath, dressed up and headed out of the inn.

As he headed towards his carriage, he heard people giggling and speaking in hushed tones. What were they talking about? He had no idea! It wasn’t his business anyway.

 “Dale! Are you leaving already?” Walter, a co-merchant and friend of Dale’s called out.

 “Yes!”

 “Alright! I will meet you there!”

Walter was supposed to travel along with him to the city but changed his mind all of a sudden. He wouldn’t say the reason but insisted that he was not going anywhere anymore.

Dale did not think too much about it as he quickly saddled his Hor-sen, as he called the beast. He paid the man who took care of his beast the other night and prepared to move out.

 “Dale!” Wilson called out. Dale looked at the caller and he had to think things through before it finally clicked.

 ‘I had totally forgotten about this kid! Good thing he arrived in time! If not, he would have missed me!' Dale felt that it was very funny that he could never forget the smallest of his goods but he forgot about a whole human. Old enough to be his father’s youngest son.

 “Hurry! Come on in! Time waits for no one!” Dale and Wilson both settled down and were off on their way again.

As they approached the outskirts of the village, Wilson promised himself to never starve again to avoid another scenario like that of last night.