"Hey, here come our orders!" Larry shouted. I turned around and my hunger level escalated as I saw the steam hissing off of those fries and the scent of the hamburger. After Han left, I grabbed a napkin and set it on my lap. Larry, being the slob he is, placed it around his neck…with the long end behind him. So it looked like a cape.

Sometimes I look and wonder. Other times I just look. And other times I just sigh.

When Larry had ordered his hot dogs to be hot, he really meant it! There was tons of steam coming off of them. He blew on it but it had no effect.

"Yeah, that's what you get for getting three hot dogs which are nearly a foot long and have chili on them."

He took in a huge gulp of fresh air and released a hurricane upon the still steaming hot dogs. Sure enough it worked. However, he blew on so strong that one of the pieces of chili cheese got picked up by the mini-gale and found its way into my eye.

"Ow! Hey, watch it, will you?!"

He grabbed his hot dog and grinned at me. "Careful, Spiny. It's hot." He bit into his hot dog and started munching away.

Well, I wasn't going to waste my time arguing with a senseless dope that had no hope of ever recovering good judgement. I took a sip of my dark chocolate soda. Mmm! My taste buds exploded and my mouth became heaven for them.

"Hey, this tastes great! Almost like a smoothie." Then I grabbed one of my fries. "Oh, this is a million times better than a French fry from any American restaurant. Hey, Larry?"

"What?"

"If you want fries, then get your own. Stop taking mine."

"I didn't take yours!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Then what's that in your right hand?"

"Uh….fingers?"

"And what is in the fingers?"

"Uh…claws?"

"And what do you have in the claws?"

"Um…in the claws, I have muck. And in the much, there are microbes."

Okay already! I slammed my fist on the table and yelled, "Stop! No one makes fun of me!" I grabbed his hand and what do you suppose he had in it? More than half of all my French fries.

I sighed. "Larry, all you have to do is call the nearest waiter and ask him or her to bring you a side of fries. It's not complicated. Any brick-headed idiot can do it."

"I was wondering how you did it."

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing, nothing." Larry took a nip from a tray as it was coming by, but the waiter didn't see him. "Hey, we need to get from that new Velvet Chocolate ice cream."

"Maybe we will."

The doors opened and I turned back to see who it was, hoping that it would be Lilia. It wasn't, but I waved to him. "Hey, Roger!"

He smiled and walked over to our booth. "Hey, guys? What's up? How are you, Larry?"

Larry had just eaten another huge piece of his hot dog. He took a big swallow and said, "Hhhhiiiiii!"

The repulsive stench of onions reverberated in the air and the atmosphere quickly turned toxic. "Oh, that's disgusting!" I yelled.

Roger's eyes turned, not red, but orange. "Oh, my gosh! Larry, did you have to get extra onions on your hot dog?"

"Why? And miss the expression on your face?" He was clearly enjoying this. Ignoring him, I offered my chocolate soda to Roger. "Here take a sip. It'll help." He grabbed the glass and took a gulp from the cup, not the straw. Oh well.

"Ahhh! Much better. Hey that's the best stuff I've tasted!" he said with a beaming smile.

"I know right? They just finished remodeling Arnold's. It's got a more 1960s look and they have tons of new items. It's mostly frozen yogurts and shakes."

He snapped his fingers. "Hey, I know what I came to eat here." He called the first waiter who had served us. Or tried to, at least. Anyways, he came over with the same angry and clearly rude expression. "Could I have a large bowl of Apple-Cinnamon homemade ice cream?"

"Mmm-hmm." Eesh. What an attitude. Chill, man.

"Hey, I just thought of something." I looked up at the waiter and tried not to notice the wrinkles in his forehead. "Could I get two large Pecan/Cherry/Cream shakes to go? With homemade ice cream, please."

He nodded and started walking back to the kitchen. "This strange weirdo wants cherry-picking slaves to go."

WHAT THE?! I quickly stood up and turned around. "I said Cherry, Pecan, and Cream, you darn fool! Can't you read? If you're not going to do this job right, why did you bother to sign up?"

"I enjoy my job. I just hate people!"

O-kay. "Learn to like it, buddy."

"And if you keep on bothering me while I try to make a living in this dump, I'll put laxatives in your food!"

My eardrums were still ringing. "What…did…he…just…say?"

"You better leave him alone," said Roger.

"Who asked you?" said Larry.

I sat back down and mentioned to Roger, "Ah forget it. Better to not create conflicts. And don't listen to Larry. He's just like Sid from Ice Age. All he wants to do is call attention."

In a mocking tone, Larry said, "No, really! My feet are really hot! Ow, ow, oh, ouch, ow!"

When Roger's order came and he started eating, I said to him, "So how's your family? Your parents and your brother?"

"Oh, they're fine. Zach got a summer internship at the university in Tentpole."

"Really? That's great! He did remember to bring his snow gear right? Because he's going to be living in the tallest peaks of Amarkia for three months."

"Yeah. We miss him a lot but, he leaving has made me think of what I want to do after high school. I mean, I'm going to graduate in just two years." That's two Amarkian years, by the way. Not two Gregorian calendar years. So that would make it 1,600 years. Remember, Roger is an accelerated student.

"What do you want to study? Like, what's your interest?"

"Mmm. Green energy sources. I've taken some courses on that and that's what I want to study. Renewable energy."

For Amarkians, that's like studying law or medicine so it's pretty big. "Wow sounds great. You know, Patty wants to study to become either a nurse or a scientist."

"Really? What kind of scientist?"

I took another bite of my hamburger and let my mouth savor the tender meat, the lettuce, the melted cheese, the tomatoes, and the pickles. After swallowing I answered, "I'm not sure. She says she just wants to help people."

"She's got a very noble personality, right?"

I nodded. "She sure does. And uh, Kathy wants to study to become a teacher. She'd like to teach History at a high school or a college."

Larry took a sip of his fruit soda and said, "Ha, yeah right. She should probably study more about life itself then think of becoming a teacher." The three of us laughed at Larry's remark. You have to admit that Kathy can be a little naïve about important things at times. But we still love her.

"And, uh, Lilia wants to be a psychologist."

Larry responded, "She probably wants to understand you, Spiny."

"What?!"

To which he responded by chortling and gloating and laughing like a complete maniac. Makes sense because he is a maniac. But he shouldn't have laughed while drinking his soda. You know what happens next, right?

Yep. He started choking and struck his chest with his fist. He coughed hard and (you guessed it) sprayed fruit soda into my eyes. "AH! Hey!"

"Sorry."

"Good thing for you, that wasn't the chili."

I don't know what got into him. He gets like this sometimes. He just suddenly starts to act crazy and do irrational things. He grabbed my hamburger and bit half of it. "Hey, that's mine!" I protested.

With his tail he grabbed nearly all my French fries and resumed stuffing his face. Before I could say something, with his other hand, he removed all the contents of my hamburger and left me with nothing but the bread.

After eating all of my stuff that had cost me money and blood to get, he let out a huge, "BUUURRPPP!" Several people looked at us and one couple actually left in complete disgust. Arnold glared at me from the other side. I just smiled innocently and waved.

"Anyways," I started to say to Roger. "How are things with Darla? How is it dating a tomboy?"

"Things are going great, actually. It's different. But a better, more fun kind of different, you know?"

"You know what she wants to study after school?" I asked.

Just as he was opening his mouth, Larry butted in. "Yeah, she wants to be a mortician."

Of course, Larry being no expert on discreetness said it in a loud voice and several people started looking at us and whispering. "Shh! Keep your voice down!" I said.

"You know that a mortician is, right?" he said in the same, normal tone.

"You don't mean the ones who bury people at cemeteries?" Roger said.

"No, I mean the people who dress the dead up after taking out their kidneys and organs and stuff."

Obviously the guy behind Larry and his girlfriend didn't like the conversation, because they slammed shut the book they were reading and marched to another table.

Roger's face was red with embarrassment and mine was red with anger.

Well, thank you very much, Dr. Larry.