Dinner in the Stars…

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Mary asked, hesitancy filling her voice.

“It’s got to be safe. Don’t you think?” John said, not totally sure himself.

“Well, people do go up in that thing all the time, right?” She looked up at the flat saucer that was coming back into view as it descended on the tether.

“Of course they do. And no one has died riding in it, have they?” He scratched his head, trying to remember all the stories he had heard about the space elevator.

“Everyone says the dinner they serve is the best you can get, and, well, no one would lie about that, would they?” Mary asked.

“That’s exactly what I hear too!” John added as their excitement replaced their trepidation. “And I have never seen a single complaint about the food, have you?”

She looked down at the brochure in her hand, skimming the colorful photos and the words that popped out at her.

“Amazing!”

“Thrilling!”

“Once in a lifetime!”.

“Well, according to this, everything anyone says is all positive. See here, it even says, “Never a single complaint lodged.”” She said as she pointed out to a yellow highlighted portion in the lower right hand portion. “They couldn’t print it if it weren’t true, could they?”

“I think there is a law about that. Like false advertisement or something.” He nodded at her. “So, do you want to do this?”

“Only if you go with me. Wouldn’t be much of a dinner with a friend to come along, would it?”

He squinted his eyes and thought about that for a moment, then scratching his beard he said, “I guess it wouldn’t.” Then a grin came across his face, “How about we take a selfie right now, and send it to all our friends. Let them see what fun we got ourselves into!” Her face lit up equally as well.

“That’s a great idea. Then maybe they will want to come out and join us. Wouldn’t that be something?” She dug in her pocket for her cell phone and pulled it out. They stood next to each other with their goofy grins, their knitted caps and scarves, and their big thick jackets as she held the camera out at arm’s length, capturing the moment. She showed him the photo, and he nodded his assent as she made a group text and sent it to all their friends with the message, “Wish you were here for dinner in the stars!” attached to it. Then they turned and headed toward the ticket booth.

“Two tickets, please.” She said to the Andorean standing behind the glass whose name tag read ‘C’Xngr’. “Dinner in the stars!” She squealed excitedly as she pointed to the brochure. C’Xngr bent his face in a mimicking of what he believed humans called smiling, however, due to the nature of his blue skin and his mouth being above his eyes, it came across less than appealing.

“Doo dickeds do dinner in da dars.” C’Xngr clicked as he handed them two 4 inch long golden-colored slips of metal. As John and Mary took the tickets, they held them close to themselves and grinned as they shook with glee.

“Dinner in the stars!” Mary said, holding her ticket aloft.

“Dinner in the stars!” John repeated as he did the same.

Then, John too Mary’s hand and they turned and walked up the boarding ramp. “This is going to be the adventure of a life time!” Mary said to John as the doors to the newly arrived gondola opened and they walked in. “I haven’t seen anyone come out of one of these in the last 4 hours, the food must be really good, don’t you think?”

“It has got to be the best in the universe!” John agreed as they looked at each other and held hands, waving back toward C’Xngr excitedly.

As the doors closed, C’Xngr turned to his friend Bl’Jrg, and spoke in their native language.

“Fl’rav hecv’ dsscu’wac nwrd hgrr’d” Which roughly translated into human meant, “I never have understood why these humans are always so excited to be dinner.”

They both turned and waved their 4-fingered webbed hands to the ascending saucer as they mimicked the smile again.

Filed under: Flash Fiction Tagged: Grammar Ghoul