Jack's Snow Day

"If you have any questions or need anything please feel free to ask. I'm Becc."

"Thank you, Becc! I think we are good for now!" Jack said as the Altarians moved off to the bedroom to stow their bags.

With a slight bow the young female turned and left, closing the door behind her.

Jack followed Gee and Bal into the bedroom. He saw there was a large bed with multiple blankets but the room was cool, again a little cooler than they had the rooms in Elleltris.

"I am sorry for our intruding on your sleeping arrangements but Boon Falls is proving to be far colder than the capital. We would freeze at night," Gee explained.

"No. I get it. It's fine. It was a little embarrassing to hear you telling Mara about my being warm," he said.

Gee looked at Jack like he was her slow student. "The Shreen are communal sleepers. They sleep in the pit you see out in the living room. This bed and bedroom are strictly for non-Shreen visitors. Being the 'warm one' is a compliment."

"Oh! Well... thank you!"

"Don't let it go to your head," Bal said as she put her suitcase in the corner.

Jack frowned at Bal. "Shall we go eat? I'm starving! I need to stoke the fires that keep you two warm at night."

"By all means then," Gee said gesturing to the door.

They found the restaurant and the hostess guided them to a table where an older Shreen couple were seated. Jack could see Tyg's coloration in the male though his dark fur was peppered with grey and the female had pale grey long fur and snow white short fur with pale grey rosettes and stripes. The male stood and met Jack halfway around the table. He leaned his head forward and Jack touched his forehead to his. The female had moved to stand at her husband's side when Jack pulled back so he turned and touched her forehead with his as well. She was the first Shreen he had to bend down to as most were as tall as he was if not a little taller. Her eyes were twinkling with happiness as she smiled up at Jack.

"Welcome to Boon Falls! I'm the mayor, Ghen and this is my wife Asha. On a personal note I'd like to thank you for speaking to my son Tyg and his wife the other night. It's a major relief to his mother and I that the two of them have come to their senses. The good fortune of you visiting when you did and also being a Love Doctor-"

Gee snorted and wiped at her nose to cover the rude sound.

Jack looked at the mayor in embarrassment. "I'm not a Love Doctor. I'm not an Anything Doctor! I said the words while protesting this fact to some store clerks. I'm not really sure why that phrase became so popular or so wide spread. All I did that night was talk to them. Something in what I said touched the real love they felt for each other and they made it work themselves. They are more responsible for their new happiness than I am."

The couple looked at him with happy smiles and he realized his denial was falling on deaf ears.

They were standing at a table in the middle of the dining area with maybe twenty other tables around them, most filled with locals having their evening meal. Most of these were watching them casually like they were the night's entertainment.

At the far side of the restaurant was a large fireplace where flames danced over ornamental glass. Even from the center of the seating area Jack could feel the faint touch of the heat waves being radiated from the fireplace. None of the Shreen were seated anywhere near it as to them it would have been unpleasantly warm. Gee and Bal looked at Jack with just the slightest desperation in their eyes. He understood.

"Mayor Ghen, if you don't mind I'd like to release Agent's Gee and Bal," he gestured to them as he named them, "to sit closer to the fireplace. They'll have a better view of the room from there and keep warm at the same time."

"Oh! Well, certainly by all means," Ghen said as he nodded.

Jack smiled at him and nodded to the agents who immediately made their way to the far edge of the seating area where they found an unoccupied table for two... and moved it much closer to the fireplace. They moved the chairs then quickly took off their fur overcoats and let the heat of the flames soak into their chilled bodies.

The mayor glanced at Jack and they shared a smile. "Altarians don't care much for the cold, do they?" he said with a crooked smile.

Jack sighed. "No, they don't. They insisted on coming but I'm regretting that for their sakes. They feel the cold much more than I do."

Ghen gestured for them to sit but before they could the waitress came by and removed the extra place settings and chairs. She rearranged the remaining settings to give them all equal space. Jack smiled at her quick and efficient motions. Soon the three were sitting with comfortable space around them. The waitress returned with menus.

"I'm really hungry. What do you recommend?" Jack asked her and realized it was Becc.

She smiled and glanced meaningfully at the mayor who leaned forward.

"It has come to my attention that you may enjoy... eating meat?" he said quietly.

Jack's eyes widened in surprise. "I have been known to. Where did you..."

Ghen grinned at him. "We may be on the Ridge but we aren't completely cut off from the world. We have ways of learning things even out here in the wilds!"

Asha rolled her eyes and shook her head at her husband. "Tyg called. He and the Queen had a long conversation with her Facilitator. It came up that you're an omnivore."

"Oh! Well, yes, I did say that at Tanz's party." Jack acknowledged but he still didn't know where this was going.

"We've had a rash of encounters with some larger Skrahak in the nearby hills. When they get big we have to cull them or they get too bold and begin attacking the villages for food. They're carnivores. Our people have been out in the neighboring hillside hunting them down and we're close to finding the bull which is the largest one. Once we get it the smaller ones will scatter."

He looked a little uncomfortable but pushed on. "A few years back we had a group of Wuu visit the village to... hunt the Skrahak."

Jack looked at the mayor incredulously. "Wuu? The little balls of fur and bad tempers? They hunt?"

Ghen smirked and nodded. "Surprised me too but damn if they aren't fearsome in a group. They took down a four metre Skrahak and they only had spears. Tiny little spears. Gave me nightmares for a week." He shuddered.

"Anyway, they took this big one down and proceeded to slaughter it for its meat. They asked the cook here to prepare it and they ate a large portion of the beast that night. Make no mistake, Wuu are pure carnivores."

"Huh!" Jack exclaimed in surprise.

"We analysed the flesh and it's perfectly safe for consumption once cooked. As we have culled a number of them recently we have some meat on hand and the chef would be happy to prepare it for you. He said they called it a steak."

Jack's mouth watered as he was so hungry. "Would you be ok with me eating it in front of you? If you would I can eat something else."

"No! Please feel free to enjoy it. The Wuu certainly did," Ghen remarked.

"That would be wonderful then! I'd love to try a Skrahak steak!" Jack said smiling at Becc.

She leaned closer. "The chef asked me to ask you how you would like it cooked," she asked.

"What color is the meat uncooked?" Jack asked.

Becc's nose wrinkled. "Red."

"Ok, then cook it until it is just slightly pink in the center," he answered. Becc nodded and looked to the mayor and his wife.

"Our usual," Asha said and Ghen smiled at his wife.

Becc nodded and went to take the Altarian's orders but she didn't get too close to the table.

Jack returned his attention to the couple across the table. "I must confess, up until a few days ago I'd never heard of Chrystan or the Shreen and I feel terrible about that. I'm supposed to be Queen Elissa's Ambassador!"

"Don't feel too bad. The Shreen aren't exactly eager to make a nuisance of ourselves off the planet. In fact I don't think I've ever heard of a Shreen who left Chrystan. We like it here and if we need anything we can't get here, well, that's why we have a Gate in Elleltris and friends on the other side to bring those things to us, right?" the mayor said with a shrug.

"Nothing wrong with being, self-sufficient," Jack agreed and got a smile from the couple.

"We also heard you know more than a little about being self-sufficient but you've taken it to extremes!" Asha said in amazement.

Jack looked at her then recalled telling his story about being a Park Ranger. He smiled and nodded. "I did what I had to do to get and keep a job. It was a hard time in my life."

Ghen glanced over at a neighboring table and frowned at the occupant who was gesturing to him. Jack caught the exchange and glanced questioningly at the mayor who looked a little embarrassed.

"We use the restaurant frequently for town hall meetings and the tables have been equipped with audio systems to allow everyone to properly hear the head table which is this one. Would you mind if I were to turn on the table's broadcast unit? Everyone here is a friend and they'd love to hear your stories as well."

Jack looked around the room and saw smiles on the faces of the other Shreen. "Oh! Uh, I suppose that would be fine."

"The audio is also broadcast for those at home who can't attend the meetings," Asha disclosed.

Jack laughed and they looked at him in surprise. "Sorry, it feels like the amateur radio station I worked at when I was a teenager."

The mayor's eyes lit up and he gestured to the controls Jack just now recognized on the table. He'd thought they were for summoning the waiter. He smiled and nodded. The mayor pressed and held a spot on the table surface and a light appeared under his finger pad.

"Hello, this is Mayor Ghen at South View with my lovely wife Asha and our special guest Ambassador Jack Danner from Altaria- and originally Earth I suppose," Ghen said with the smooth practiced voice of a politician and part time radio host.

Jack suddenly realized that during his visit to Chrystan there was a distinct lack of televisions. He wondered if the Shreen just preferred the intimacy of radio. He saw he was being prompted by Ghen.

"Yes, I was born and raised on Earth and only recently found myself living on a different planet. Altaria has been an excellent place to live and now raise a family." Jack glanced at his 'audience' and they were all smiling while they ate their dinners. Some were watching but most didn't seem to need the visual component. He was fascinated by this but the mayor had moved on.

They turned their attention to Asha. "During the dinner you had with the Queen's Facilitator Tanz you talked about your job as a Park Ranger, a custodian of nature?"

"That's a nice way to put it," Jack said with a smile.

"You explained that during the winters you were alone? For months?" she said with a gasp.

"Yes, the winters in the region I worked were bad and we'd have to work the four to five months alone," Jack said, his voice holding an echo of that loneliness. He forced his shoulders back and smiled at the stunned faces of the couple. "My next job made up for that though because I was working as a pot scrubber in a chaotically busy restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. So many people rushing back and forth and not so much talking as yelling constantly. I hardly talked at all but I absorbed the constant buzz of language and human motion. I lasted there for six months until one of the managers dropped by and realized I was the odd man so out I went."

"They fired you because you were odd?" Ghen said in surprise.

"No, they kicked me out because I didn't officially work there. Directly after being fired by the Ranger service so publicly no one would hire me. I was wandering around the alleys looking for something to eat. The cook of this restaurant took pity on me after he heard my story. He took me in and fed me. In return I washed the pots as the pot scrubber hadn't shown up for work. When it got really busy and I proved I could keep up the cook let me stay. Luckily the original pot scrubber never returned. I slept in the back room and ate the discarded food the customers left on their plates. In that six months I worked really hard but more importantly, I disappeared from the public consciousness. When I was back out on the street looking for my next job Jack Danner wasn't a name that instantly reminded people of the public humiliation. I got a job as a Sanitation Engineer though I had to do a lot of fancy talking to bluff my way into that job." When he saw the blank looks from the couple. "With a large vehicle I collected garbage from the large containers behind the businesses and drove it to a place we dumped it."

Ghen smiled. "You sound like Tyg. Except he moved from job to job looking for something that fulfilled him."

"Maybe it wasn't a search for a meaningful occupation that caused his wanderlust. Maybe he was just looking for someone who fulfilled him," Jack suggested.

"More wisdom from the Love Doctor?" Asha said with a grin.

Jack moaned. "No, please let me address that. I'm sorry I ever put those two words together in a sentence. I wasn't claiming to be one. I am not now nor have I ever been, a doctor. I just offered a few words of encouragement, I don't even remember what they were. The Queen and King were the ones who found each other again. I am so glad they did."

Becc was returning with a tray with their meals on it.

"Ah, it looks like our food is arriving. We can pick this up later?" Ghen asked and Jack nodded.

Ghen turned off the broadcast and the plates were distributed.

Jack was stunned by the size of the steak on his plate. It was bigger than both his hands side by side, fingers spread wide. He looked at Becc. "I don't think I can eat this much steak!"

She smiled at him. "Eat as much or as little as you wish. No one else is going to eat it."

Jack thought about that. He was the only meat eater on the planet... other than the Skrahak apparently. He gave her a nod and picked up his utensils. The knife he had wasn't going to cut the meat. "Uh, Becc? Do you have a knife with a serrated edge to cut the meat?"

"Oh! I will get you one," she said and rushed away.

While he waited he tried the vegetables. They were delicious! So fresh! "These are amazing! Are they grown nearby?"

"All of the food is grown in the farms beneath our feet. If you'd like I can give you a tour tomorrow," Ghen said.

"I would love to see the farms!" Jack said with a big smile.

Becc returned with a wicked looking knife. "It's a root cutter," she explained.

He gave it a try and it did a reasonable job on the steak. He looked at the piece he'd cut free. It was hot with a slightly pink center. The real test. He raised the fork to his mouth and stopped halfway when he realized Becc was watching him with wide eyes. As was Ghen and Asha. Then he looked at the mesmerized faces at the tables around him. He glanced over at Gee and Bal and saw their disapproving scowls.

Meh.

He popped the morsel into his mouth and saw everyone jolt in unison. He ignored them and chewed slowly to capture the taste and textures. There was a slight elasticity to the meat like seafood but the taste was tangy bordering on spicy. He nodded happily and smiled to Becc first then shared the expression with the others watching. He swallowed and everyone jolted again.

"That was more difficult to watch than I expected!" Ghen remarked slowly.

Jack immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry. If this offends you I'll just stick with the vegetables which are excellent!"

"No! Please! I can tell you are enjoying it and I shouldn't have been watching you eat so closely anyway. Please enjoy." Ghen exclaimed.

Jack received nods from Asha and Becc, the latter looking a little flustered as she headed back to the kitchen.

He turned back to his meal as did the others. It had been quite some time since he'd enjoyed a steak. The closest he got to meat on Altaria was fish which SennLann craved and raided from his plate if he ate too slowly. Now he had Zaina and Adina eyeing his plate those nights as well. He was going to have to stock up on more fish.

It wasn't long before he reached his max and took one bite too many. He dropped his napkin over the plate to keep himself from eating more and pushed back a little from the table. Rubbing his full tummy he smiled at the mayor and his wife.

"It was enough?" she asked.

"A little bit more than enough. I'm stuffed! It was really good! Thank you!" Jack said with a sigh. This got grins from the couple.

"Good! Would you mind if we continued?" Ghen said pointing to the broadcast controls on the table.

Jack smiled and shook his head indicating he didn't. The mayor pressed the button again.

"Hello, this is Mayor Ghen at South View with my lovely wife Asha for part two of our interview with our special guest Ambassador Jack Danner from Altaria and Earth. Humans are omnivores and we've just witnessed him enjoying a Skrahak steak. Not something we see every day on Chrystan. He also indicated that he very much enjoyed the vegetables grown here in Boon Falls. With your varied occupational history do you have any experience with farming yourself, Ambassador?"

"Please, call me Jack. The only farming I've done personally was in our family garden. In the neighborhoods I grew up in, my parents, all the parents in fact, had gardens in the small plots of land behind our homes. We needed to grow as much food as we could because we couldn't afford to eat otherwise. Money was really limited even with everyone working at whatever jobs we could get. Farming on Earth by that point had been commercialized so there were extremely few independent farms left. The mega farms sold to the grocers but the entire mechanical process of harvesting and shipping meant the produce in the stores wasn't as fresh. Certainly not as fresh as the stuff we grew at home and not as good as I ate tonight!"

"I'll give you a tour of our farms tomorrow. I think you will be impressed," Ghen said with a smile.

"I'm already impressed with the produce itself!" Jack grinned.

Asha leaned forward. "Not to change the subject but changing the subject," she grinned, "I'm told you arrived with... skis? What are they and what do you do with them?"

"They are long slippery boards which connect to special shoes that allow us to glide along the surface of snow quickly and gracefully without sinking into it. We used them for recreation and fitness. I did some skiing a long time ago on Earth and I enjoyed it very much. I have to say this world is perfect for the sport. If you had a lift system for bringing skiers back up to the top of the slopes you could seriously have a very lucrative tourism based industry. The view and scenery is breathtaking. The food is amazing, and the accommodations are lovely. You'd probably have to expand if it becomes as popular as I think it might become. It was something I was going to speak with Minister Julli about at Tanz's party but... other things... happened," he finished awkwardly.

Asha giggled and Ghen grinned at him.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to put you on the spot and ask you questions about what tips you passed along to the attendees of that party," Asha said with a grin.

Jack sighed in relief.

"They've already done their own interviews and sang your praises," she continued.

Jack eyed her incredulously.

"One thing I would like to ask you about. My curiosity is driving me crazy. Are the gold caps on the tips of your horns ornamental or do they serve some purpose? They are lovely!" Ghen asked.

"Oh, thanks. They're to protect others from the sharp points. The horn tips are deadly sharp. Self-sharpening I've been told. The caps keep these points hidden and my kids at home safe. I have two daughters who've made a game out of waking me up every morning. I don't have to worry about them cutting themselves accidentally on my horns."