Denise slid the dish of butter across the table to her side then slid an empty plate in next to the plate of crab legs. “Thanks for cracking mine too,” she deadpanned him. Her hands worked at a large crab leg and broke it in half, little drops of water splattering both of them.
“Nice one. A little more careful next time, huh?” Will wiped the water from his face and continued on with the legs in front of him.
In minutes the two plates of crab legs was reduced to a few cups of crab meat piled on each plate. “MMM! I’m so hungry for the crab now. Seems like I’ve been waiting forever all of a sudden,” Denise salivated.
“You gonna need more butter or you think this is enough?” he asked as he nodded towards her partially full cup of butter.
Denise dunked a piece of crab into the butter, “probably. Just to be safe. Actually if you wanted, you could get more legs while you are up there…” her pout and puppy dog eyes forced his hand, “alright, fine. I’ll get another plate full.”
“Don’t forget the extra butter,” she cooed after him as he begrudgingly stood and walked to the food bars.
“I’m going to get more food, if the waitress comes back get me another beer,” Zeleny said as he slid out of his seat.
“Sure I’ll get you a root beer, it’ll be better for your waist line,” Tesar poked with a half smile.
“Fuck off,” Zeleny quietly barked as he stalked towards the food bars.
Will walked directly to the crab bar and pulled a plate from the stack on the end then piled crab legs on it. He managed to balance the plate in his hand as he walked to the butter bar and set the plate gingerly on the edge of the bar. He reached for a cup but his hand stopped and he looked hard at his choices before he pulled a bowl from the end. It took six ladles of butter to get it full and he carefully picked up the plate of crab legs and turned to walk to their table.
Zeleny walked through the food bars and pulled samples of numerous dishes in scoop sized portions onto his plate. It looked like a pockmarked landscape on his plate but he focused on the signage of the different bars and dishes. He found himself standing at the meat bar where the meat was sliced for him. He pointed to the roast beef then looked down to see cabbage in a hot plate at he front of the bar which he cooped onto his plate.
His plate full and his anticipation high for the flavors he was about to eat Zeleny made his way through the food bars and as he passed the butter bar Will turned with both hands full and ran square into him. Zeleny’s hand gripped his plate tighter as Will’s hands lost grip of his plate, the legs scattered across the floor. The butter bowl in Will’s right hand slammed into Zeleny’s arm and the bowl got spit upwards between them then arched over and slammed off Zeleny’s knee. The butter became a spray as the bowl was hit and in a moment they were both left standing dripping butter and staring in bewilderment.
The blood suddenly began to heat quickly in Zeleny’s neck and he couldn’t stop himself from yelling out, “what the fuck?! Seriously?” He then followed in English, “what the fuck?!”
Will lost his balance and landed on the floor amidst the strewn crab legs, he watched the bowl bounce off the floor and the droplets of butter sprayed all around them.
Zeleny stood over Will and glared down at him, his deeply accented English increased his presence, “look at this! What you do about this?”
“I… I… I’m sorry,” Will stammered, “I didn’t see you there.”
Continued
