Python II (not as equel)

It's... part 1

"I've got it!" Eric jumped up and laughed crazily. The others looked up, a bit surprised and a smile forming on their faces because of the pure happiness they were seeing. Eric laughed again and climbed on the table, a piece of paper waving in his hand. "Finally!" He took a deep breath and then started singing: "All things dull and ugly, all creatures short and squat, all things rude and nasty, except for this idea I got!"

"Alright, alright Eric. What did you come up with?" They all leaned forward, curious about the sudden outburst. Eric stopped, and the smile on his face slowly faded. His eyes widened and his eyebrows went down. "Er..." He looked at the paper. "What! Just half a minute ago it was still there!" His voice raised in unbelief. "Are you sure it ever was there?" Michael asked. Eric nodded furiously, and seemed about to burst out in tears. "Alright, let me see it." John stood up and Eric gave the paper to him, his hand vibrating.

"Hmm... strange." John looked up. "This is an empty piece of paper. It's fully, completely, absolutely empty and without a scratch, crease or line, as if no one ever touched it before, including me. It's an utterly remarkable experience for all of us."

"Are you sure you ever wrote it down? You haven't just forgotten it?" Terry asked. Eric shook his head violently. "Yes! No! I mean, I wrote it down, I'm sure of that, at least. It got this beautiful, brilliant idea, and suddenly, it was all gone!" He quickly wiped a tear from his cheek.

Graham stood up. "Alright. First of all, come stand on the floor again." Eric carefully jumped off the table. "Now, how many fingers do I hold in the air?" Graham asked, holding up three fingers. Eric looked up confused. "I'm perfectly fine!" Graham continued to stare at him. "Alright, alright. Three." Graham nodded. "I'm afraid your diagnosis is the following; way too much overexcitement and disappointment, and a bit of air shortage. I suggest you sit down and catch your breath."

Eric rolled his eyes and sat down, like the doctor had said. "And now? I still haven't got my idea back!" Graham sucked from his everlasting pipe. "I'm afraid I can't do much about that now. How much did you sleep last night?"

Eric thought for a moment. "'bout eight hours, I think." Graham nodded. "And what was the last time you ate something, and what was it?" Eric's eyes went throught the room, resting on every person for a second. "I'm afraid I can't tell you." He answered. Graham raised his eyebrows. "Why not?" Eric swallowed and looked at his shoes. "It's too personal." Silence. Eric lifted his head up and looked at the five other people in the room. No one said anything.

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you!" Eric raised his arms in a gesture of giving up. He sighed. "I didn't eat anything at all." His eyes wandered through the room.
"Then I invite you to come with me to the nearest restaurant and have some food. Anyone want to join us?" 

Four hands were raised.

"What about you, Terry? Are you staying here?" John asked, letting his two hands fall to his sides again. Terry nodded. "I might change my mind in a few seconds, though." He stood up and took his coat. They walked to the door, Eric in front.

Graham increased his speed so that he walked next to Eric. "Eating nothing distracts the brain, you know." He said. Eric mumbled something. John used his extraordinary length to do two big steps and catch up with them. "Have you found your idea yet?" Eric shook his head. "What a shame. It'll come back after you've eaten, I'm sure of that."

They entered the restaurant, which was empty, except for a few old vikings who were famous for sitting there. Michael looked around him. "Where's John?" He asked. Graham had also noticed his absence. He shrugged. "He's a grown man, he can take care of himself, probably."

"What table shall we place ourselves next to?" Terry asked. The others immediately started talking through each other. "Stop! Shut up! Democracy! Demo-"

The door opened and a cold breeze spread to the room. But it wasn't only the air that made the five actors shiver, it was mainly the figure that stood in the doorway. It was huge. They did a step back as the figure did a step forward. The light of the lamps in the restaurant fell opon him and revealed his identity.

"John!" Eric sighed with relief. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Graham stated, sucking from his pipe. John dragged a hand through his hair and put off his coat. "Where shall we sit then?" They gasped. "J... John, you just asked... that one question! Of all the quetsions you could have asked, this one!"

John shrugged. "Of all the questions I could have asked, this one seemed most logical to me. Or should I have asked why the sky is blue, or why one plus one is two, to name just a few?"

Michael rolled his eyes. "Let's just sit over there." They followed him to the nearest table. A waiter came up to them immediately. "What would you like to order, gentlemen?"

"You first." Terry said, nodding to Eric. "Uh... what have you got?" The waiter looked at his little notebook and coughed. "Well... there's egg and bacon; egg, sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg, bacon and spam; egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam-"

"Ah, I see. All you got is egg, bacon and spam. And sausage." Eric sighed. "No, mister! We've got more, this is a decent restaurant, believe me!" The waiter coughed again. Eric raised his eyebrows. "And that is?"

"Well... where was I? Oh, I see. Excuse me." The waiter smiled awkwardly. "Spam, sausage, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam; let's skip that one... or lobster thermidor au crevette with a mornay sauce served in provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle plate, brandy and with a fried egg on top-"

"I'll take that one, please. The last one." Eric interrupted. The waiter looked up. "Yes, sir. And as an extra, we will serve you spam." Eric let his head fall in his hands.

"Do you also have anything without spam?" Graham asked. The waiter shook his head. "This restaurant is awarded for its spam. It's famous for it, you know? Wouldn't want any customers to miss it."

"What if I'm allergic to spam?"

The smile faded from the waiters' face, and he looked around him. He leaned forward a bit and whispered: "Then I advise you to leave this restaurant as soon as possible, before the vikings hear it." Their eyes widened, having been quite unaware of this threat that was sitting next to them.

Terry cleared his throat. "I suggest we stay here and order something without too much spam." The others nodded. "Spam isn't that bad... and you can always just not eat it."

"So... the last one for all of you?" The waiter asked hesitantly. "Yes, please." Graham answered.

"I didn't know this restaurant had switched owners. Anyway, got your memory back yet?" Eric shook his head. "Wait..." He lifted his head up and gasped. "I see something..."

The others leaned forward, somewhat amused but mainly frightened by this sudden outburst of prophecy.

"It's dark... there are a few lights, very bright. And beautiful clouds, they are purple, and green!"

John looked at Graham. "You didn't put something in his drink, did you?" Graham shrugged. "No."

Eric stood up, the chair falling on the ground. He brought his right hand in the air like he was protecting his eyes from the sun. "There are more clouds, and the light becomes brighter... now it's dark again..." He stared in nowhere for a moment. The others looked up to him with wide eyes and their mouths open.

Suddenly a shock went through Eric and he shivered. "A light, it comes closer! It's... a planet, it's Jupiter!" His eyes went normal again and he looked at the others one by one. "It's Jupiter! My idea is on Jupiter!"