It was the few final hours of Earl's shift at Tourniquet and he had just been called out into the front parlor of the restaurant by Dana, the maître d'.

"He just ran inside and now he's mumbling in a language that I don't know," she told him as they came to the public part of the restaurant. Standing at the podium was a very dirty-looking man. Earl just stared.

The man looked completely disheveled and very tired, like he had been running through the desert surrounding Night Vale for weeks. He leaned against the podium to keep his balance, as if he would collapse if he let go. Sweat shined all over his face, which was slightly red and completely covered in a fine layer of dirt and grime from the windy dunes outside. His clothes were also covered in the brown earth, but it was hard to tell if it was all from the same place because they looked extremely old and worn already with holes lining both sleeves and trousers. All in all, this man looked like he had gone to Hell and back.

Earl stepped forward and placed his hand on the podium to get the man's attention. "Hello," he said, but the man replied in a language that Earl had never heard before.

Earl turned towards Dana again. "That's not a language I've heard before. He's definitely not from around here." Dana merely shrugged.

When Earl turned back to the man, he asked, "Parlez-vous français?"

Then Dana stepped forward and said, "¿O tal vez usted habla español?"

"¿Quien habla español?" came a voice from behind them. Earl saw that it was one of his customers, Carlos, with two of his scientists, Rachelle and Dave.

"Not this guy, I don't think," Earl told him. "We don't know what language he's speaking."

"Huh," Carlos said before turning towards the man, who had been watching the crowd with wide yet exhausted eyes. "Hello, there. I'm Carlos."

The man hesitated before he repeated what he had said to Earl earlier. Surprisingly, Carlos said something back in the same language. The pair went on with a few more sentences, with which the man stood up very straight and began speaking somewhat excitedly.

"What is he saying?" Dana asked. Earl would rather know what language he was speaking.

"He's saying that he needs help. He's been in the desert for many days and he needs food and water," Carlos answered.

"How do you know that?" Earl asked. "What language is it?"

"It's Sumerian. Well, Modified Sumerian," he amended. "I studied it at the University of What It Is for my foreign language credit."

"Well," Dana interrupted. "Let's bring him inside and give him some food! He looks positively exhausted and he must be famished!"

"Dana," Earl said slowly. "We can't just give him free food or leftovers. Our boss would have us fired in a second."

Before Dana could speak again, Carlos interjected, "I'll pay for him." Then, he turned to his two companions and asked, "Are you guys good with a ride back?"

"Yeah, we can just walk; it's not that far," Rachelle said and Dave nodded before the pair thanked Earl and Dana for dinner and left.

Then, Carlos turned to the man again and said in Sumerian, "These people will bring us to a table and then we can eat and drink. Okay?"

The man agreed and Carlos told Dana with a smile to lead the way. She happily obliged and Earl went back into the kitchen.

After they had been seated, Carlos said, "What is your name?"

"Cecil," the man said. "What is yours?"

"Carlos. Nice to meet you, Cecil."

"And you as well, Carlos." The two shared a grin.

Dana came back to their table with menus and glasses of water for each of them and Cecil hurriedly grabbed his and began to drink it until the glass was completely empty. Carlos read off a couple of the items on the menu and told Cecil to order anything that he wanted. He did and Carlos relayed it to Dana, passing on a meal for himself as he had just eaten with Rachelle and Dave. Dana went back to the kitchen to place the order.

"Are you still thirsty? You may drink mine as well," Carlos offered and Cecil gladly took the proffered glass, drinking that one down just as quickly as the first. Carlos laughed at this.

Cecil looked up to find Carlos staring at him. Carlos realized this and quickly averted his eyes, a blush creeping across his features. This made Cecil smile wide.

"So, Carlos, what do you do for a living?" Cecil asked, trying to make conversation.

"I am a scientist," Carlos said. "What about you?"

At this, Cecil dropped his eyes. "Uh," he hesitated. "I was a servant for a wealthy family in my town. But I have since then run away. And I am not going back," he added with an air of certainty and finality.

Carlos almost dropped his jaw. "What was the reason for you to run away?"

"They were not a good family to me or anyone else." Cecil did not elaborate, so Carlos left it alone and carefully watched him out of the corner of his eye, so as not to make him feel uncomfortable. But Cecil just sat there fiddling with the edge of the table cloth.

"Where are you living now?" Carlos asked, trying to loosen the tension a bit. But admittedly, he was still worried about Cecil's wellbeing.

"I have not quite figured that part out yet," came the answer without so much as a glance in Carlos's direction. Carlos paused for a second, not wanting to freak the man out but, at the same time, wanting to protect him.

"If you would like, you may live with me."

At this offer, Cecil's head slowly lifted to look at Carlos, probably to make sure he was serious. He was.

"Alright," Cecil said slowly. "That sounds nice." A smile.

Carlos grinned back and let the conversation drop for a minute before Cecil's food then came to the table. Cecil immediately dove in, seemingly inhaling the food. Carlos just watched him for a second before Cecil looked up curiously.

After he swallowed his mouthful of food, Cecil asked, "Why are you not eating, Carlos?"

"Oh, I have already eaten tonight. With my friends that left the restaurant earlier."

Cecil suddenly looked uncomfortable and put his fork down. "I am sorry that you are already full. We can leave now if you do not want to stay."

"No, of course not!" Carlos said with a slight laugh. "I can wait for you to eat. You have to eat."

Apprehensively, Cecil agreed and began to eat again. Carlos smiled yet again.

All too suddenly the night came to a closing. The pair bid goodbye to Dana and Earl with Cecil telling Carlos a million times to thank them for all that they had done for him. Carlos told them thank you and then he brought Cecil out to his car and drove them both back to his apartment to set Cecil up to live with him.

Imagine that Person A is a former servant who ran away to a new country to escape their horrible employers, but is living in poverty, unable to speak the language. They eventually wander into a restaurant, and try to beg for food from the staff, who can't understand A at all. Luckily, B happens to be there as a multilingual customer, and translates for A, ordering food and paying for them, and the two begin their relationship over a meal together.