The Waves Are Ours |Virgato|

Chapter 5: How to Become Acquainted with Your Human Friends

Christopher's stomach was filled with butterflies as he walked with Richard and his friends. He was fearing the moment when they'd ask him more things that he didn't understand. Pizza, television, and PlayStation had all been confusing enough. At least he felt as though he was learning though. He'd accomplished a few new things today like learning to walk on legs and how to use a television and play on a PlayStation. He was excited to add pizza to his list of human experiences.

As the boys left these things Richard had called streets, they walked to a collection of buildings that these humans called a shopping center. There were glass doored stores selling various items: clothing, televisions, musical instruments and the like. He was glad at least that humans here seemed to share the same written language as the merpeople. Therefore he was able to read familiar words with ease. It made the land people not seem as terrifying once he had noticed that.

The boys didn't seem to stop in any of these stores, but they came to a busy area filled with people. Humans were lined up in queues, and a distinct scent filled the air. It was strange and unusual, but Christopher's stomach rumbled at the scent.

A moment later, he saw a giant burst of flame from one of the stores as there was a loud whooshing noise. He jumped, walking closer to Richard, who viewed the merman in confusion. He sighed when he noticed what Chris had been looking at: the flame from a giant wok in a Chinese restaurant that they had just passed.

Richard muttered a quick explanation which had raised Christopher's eyebrows in childlike wonder. Richard supposed they didn't do much cooking with fire under the ocean. The more he thought about it, he realized they probably didn't even have fire at all.

"Alright, here we are," Richard finally declared after a short walk. Chris scowled down at his legs that were starting to ache from even a short walk. Legs would take some getting used to, it seemed.

Chris looked up at the building. There were bricks and tiles and images of these strange round objects covered in unusual toppings. He raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Richard.

"So, Christopher, you've never had pizza before?" Erick asked.

Chris slowly shook his head, feeling slightly nervous about Erick's reaction. Erick stared at him for a moment, as if he couldn't believe it. Chris knew that he didn't know any better, but he was starting to hate being asked questions about it.

"Well you haven't lived until you've tried pizza," Joel grinned.

"So everyone keeps telling me," Chris blushed, looking away from them. He didn't want to try to explain his lack of trying this unusual food.

"Guys, leave him alone, okay," Richard sighed, shooting a tired glare at Joel and Erick. "That's what we're here for."

They walked over to a table and Chris ended up with a very large decorative paper in front of him that Richard had called a menu. He stared at it. Written on it were so many strange and unusual words that he didn't recognize. His head began to spin. What was he going to do now? It was so hard to choose what to try.

"It's pretty tough to choose, huh?" Joel grinned from beside him, looking over his menu.

Chris nodded slowly. How did humans ever decide what to eat? He'd seen so many foods he'd never tried before in the food court. If this was only one kind of food, what were all those others like. It must be easier for them though, they probably all know what these words mean. He continued to stare at his menu in confusion, slowly working through the names and trying to sort out the meanings. Some had pictures, but they didn't exactly help.

"Maybe you should start easy with just a cheese one?" Richard asked, looking over at Christopher's expression.

"No way, that's boring. He has to try the meat lovers," Joel interrupted, looking up from his own menu.