Capítulo 18: CHAPTER 18 - THE PANCAKE EMPORIUM

Not far from the train station in portion Valco there sits a squat, rectangular building, the District Pancake Emporium where a handful of new arrivals were invited to have lunch. By the end of a long table Yon Aboveyou looked down and saw many of her friends who had decided to let bygones be bygones. Phantomess rummaged through her purse until she found a piece of paper and slid it over to the other end of the table. Teddy sighed unenthusiastically as he accepted the peace treaty. And with that the Ascension War was complete. Cumin-James sat at the other end, and down the line there was Gram, Tipsy, Brine-Buy, Laura, Obsidian, Haven, Mush, Gremlin-Nose and Lilly Llamas. Obsidian had spent that morning choosing a new appearance and putting on makeup so as not to frighten the guests. Along the other side there was Phantomess, Catcher, Meza Buyer, Koransha Inree, Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel and Petty Officer Parfait Plurality, Fraudulent Platypus, Leon Turpin, Elliot Traces, and Oasis 2. "Are we ever going to eat?" Yon mumbled, elbowing Lilly. As if hearing their plea, a waitress arrived and laid a platter with a tall stack of fluffy pancakes on the end of the table. To celebrate the treaty, the sides decided to pair off and each get the same entrée. Phantomess and Teddy had a coconut nougat flavored pancake with spun ladyfinger sauce. Yon Aboveyou and Fraudulent Platypus had a pancake topped with dill and powdered sugar. Meza Buyer and Lilly Llamas had a caramelized pear flavored pancake on a bed of raisin bread crumbs. Cumin-James and Catcher had a pancake with cranberry muffin and lemon curd filling topped with ginger candy. Tipsy and Oasis 2 had a pancake encased in turmeric glaze. Laura and Leon Turpin had a pancake with its middle cut out and a dollop of beets and cream put in there. Gremlin-Nose and Elliot Traces had a wedding cake made of pancakes with celery cream cheese filling and frosting. A few could not decide on the same entrée and so went unpaired. Lance Corporal Synchronized Strudel and Petty Officer Parfait Plurality, who were an inseparable team, had a grandma-made butternut squash pie crepe split between the two of them. Gram had a buttered scone but the butter was bigger than the scone. Obsidian daintily cut a glazed carrot into circular pieces on her plate. Her real face was visible just for the occasion. Brine-Guy had a waffle with a blueberry in each square in which you have to eat them one at a time and each of them is infused with a different flavor. Haven had a waffle buried in almond and peach gelato. Mush had a big bowl with sticky rice and crushed macaroons. And Koransha Inree had a glass of water. She had an early lunch on the battleship. A chef wheeled over another cart and began dishing out plain pancakes which were rich and even fluffier. Yon reached for the bottle of maple syrup and began pouring it, but the waitress stopped what she was doing and ran over, "Hey! that's not the right one!" "Huh? what are you talking about?" she wondered, and glanced down, seeing where her pancakes had vanished. "That was the anti-matter maple syrup" the waitress pointed, seeing that it had annihilated her pancakes which were made of normal matter. "Gracious, where did they go?" Yon exclaimed as the others chuckled. "Here, try out the regular syrup. Later on, we can all go downstairs and I can give you a tour of the accelerator" she promised. "Don't even think about getting full" Lilly bubbled, pointing to the manager as he approached the table. Much to the diner's considerable muted delight, it looked like he was wearing a rather intricate belt over his apron. Yon couldn't figure out what it was, but they looked back down the table, where most of their expressions traced gradually from confusion to giggles. "The speciality of the house is ready, so we can take three people at a time to the belt-line, if you want to split into groups" he announced. Yon, Lilly and Fraudulent broke off from the rest and were escorted into another room with a crowd of people. Instead of waiting, they were brought through a different line to the front, where people waited at an airport baggage claim. "It's your turn" the manager insisted, and they climbed aboard the conveyor belt, crouching down, so they would fit underneath the flaps as they crossed over. "Ahh!" Lily screamed as she fell off the end of the belt. At last they had a soft landing on a comfy platform. Down there were even more pancakes. Coming in from the freezer, one of the snow-men that operated the colder parts of the particle accelerator grabbed a piece of cake, patted the waitress on the shoulder to encourage her, and went back. "This has been a long day" she thought, bringing another plate to the guest. Phantomess was discussing the nearby river, where baby dolphins leapt through the waters that were once someone's grandmother's left-over button collection. From the other room came the manager again, brandishing that same sort of belt contraption. Yon noticed him, until she built up the courage to ask what it was. At first, he pulled on his collar. His cheeks flared red like a red maple tree. Yon could see he was a bit self-conscious, so shot a glance back down the table, to where the Lady Phantomess held him in her gaze, with an iron stare. "Oh … there is something that you should keep in mind when you leave the Emporium. Most people try to go straight for downtown. Be sure to take the main road, and never walk through the shortcut after dark. There's a werewolf that lives in the woods out there, and anyone he finds he pounces on, even at dusk, and places them in a chastity belt. The cultic officers have chased him through the sewers as well, but couldn't catch him". "That must be a lot to deal with," Yon said, quickly putting her hand over her mouth. "Yeah … I've got this one. Haven't been able to get it off for a week. Expert spells don't work" he sighed. Hearing the conversation, Phantomess stood up and weaved some signs in the air, performing a spell, and snapped her fingers. The sound of metal puzzles unlocking could be heard throughout the restaurant. "Consider that our tip for the night" she said, winking at him. Across the room a loud smack could be heard as someone slammed their first against the table. The waitress, Delk Northway, almost fell down. She was laughing so hard, and thought to herself how this was probably the best day of her life.