Itinerant Chronicler

Supper

The hinges on the heavy wooden door squeaked slightly as it slowly opened. A young girl, no more than fifteen, peeked in cautiously and looked around. What she saw was a pretty odd site. It was a large inviting room. The comfortable looking room wasn’t like anything she could ever remember seeing before.

The walls were adorned with oil lamps that shed soft and welcoming light throughout the entire room. It wasn’t very bright, but it wasn’t dim either. It was, perfect. An soothing fire burned in a beautiful stone fireplace at the far side of the room. The ceiling was high and was hard to see in the shadows above, but the darkness above seemed to only add to the inviting atmosphere. It reminded her of a clear night sky. In fact she thought she could almost see stars twinkling above.

It was a scene right out of a fantasy novel she thought to herself. She had never really paid much attention to such things before in her short life, but now it was so inviting and so comforting it almost made her want to cry.

It wasn’t until she stepped fully into the room that she noticed the large table at the center ringed with chairs. It was sort of odd to her that she didn’t notice it first, but the rest of the room was so fascinating to her.

The table fit perfectly within the room. It was made of a darker wood than the walls. The wood seemed very sturdy, but also very old. The chairs that surrounded it were made of a lighter shade of wood and were simply made and well worn. The chairs were a perfect contrast to the table she thought to herself. They looked also looked very comfortable despite there being no cushions on them.

Then her eyes fell to what was on the table. The entire surface of the tabletop was covered with food of every type and description. Succulent meats and blocks of cheese beckoned to her. Her nose began to detect the different kinds of warm, fragrant breads that were scattered around. There were huge bowls of potatoes, vegetables and even macaroni and cheese. There were even platters of fresh fruit and offerings of different jams spread throughout the table.

Someone had obviously put in a lot of effort into preparing a meal fit for royalty. They had even had the presence of mind to put place settings in front of each and every chair. The plates, glasses and tableware were simple, and like the table seemed very old.

This is how she always imagined the richest people in the world ate. Suddenly her belly growled loudly. She looked at the food longingly. She quickly covered the distance to the table and pulled out a chair, but she hesitated before she sat down. Perhaps whoever made all this would get angry if they found a stranger eating their food. Just then though, a voice in her mind assured her that she was welcome to feast, and even encouraged her to dig in. She did not argue.

She grabbed a serving fork and stuck into a carved turkey. She spooned other side dishes onto her plate and began to eat greedily. The food was the most wonderful she had ever tasted. Never had she known food could this perfect to her, this definitely wasn’t cheap fast food tacos.

She looked up at her empty glass; she glanced around the table and didn’t see anything to drink. She then turned and looked behind her and against the wall was a much smaller table with several full glass pitchers. She walked over to it and saw one that looked like iced tea, another with hot coffee and one with water with sliced lemons floating in it. There was even a pitcher of what looked like root beer.

She selected the water and just she was about to return to her seat the door to what could only be called a exquisite banquet hall opened. She looked up and saw an elderly man walked in slowly being helped by his cane. He wore a simple pair of slacks and a plain button up shirt. He quickly saw the brown haired girl in her jeans and t-shirt. His eyes widened when he saw her.