Zeke wandered back down to the lobby and, upon finding it empty, decided to go outside and try to find a place to eat. As he stepped into the street he noticed that it was beginning to get dark outside. There were some spiral shaped poles scattered about here and there emitting light in various colors. He presumed these functioned as some sort of street lamps.
A group of four creatures that looked not unlike walking teddy bears in Hawaiian shirts walked past him laughing loudly amongst themselves.
“Excuse me,” Zeke ventured. “Do you happen to know of anywhere to eat nearby?”
One of the teddy bears turned and looked at him. It seemed to be a bit unsteady on its feet and Zeke wondered if he hadn’t seen these guys hanging out at Smelly Pete’s Tavern earlier.
“Sure mate,” the teddy bear said with its speech distinctly slurred.
Zeke waited expectantly for more information, but after a moment’s pause it seemed nothing else was forthcoming. “Well, um, can you tell me where it is?”
The teddy bear got a contemplative look on its face. “Yeah, it’s just around the corner over there… or is it that other corner over there? Hmm… come to think of it I believe that place closed down fifteen years ago.”
One of the other teddy bears leaned over and vomited in the street. “Oh look,” said the first one. “You can eat that if you’d like.”
Zeke crinkled his nose in disgust. “No thanks. Uh, I guess I’ll just find something on my own.”
“Have it your way, mate,” the teddy bear shrugged and stumbled off down the street with his friends.
Zeke shoved his hand in his pocket and it came to rest on the tourist’s guide he had retrieved from Dr. Octavius’s laboratory. He thumbed through it and noticed a fairly detailed map of the city printed in the inside back cover. He remembered that Sweaty Jim’s Dinery-O-Rama had come highly recommended and it appeared to be located just a few blocks to the east. He closed the book, shoved it back in his pocket and set off towards the restaurant.
He managed to find it without too much difficulty, although he did take one wrong turn down a blind alley where he was unfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of two filthy hyena-like creatures engaged in some heavy petting in a dumpster. He beat a hasty retreat and got himself back on track, locating the restaurant a few minutes later.
From the outside its appearance was surprisingly plain. It was a white box-like structure with the only distinctive feature being an incredibly life-like statue of a fat hairy bald human in a white tank top shirt with a palm tree drawn on it in marker. Zeke wondered if this was an attempt to make the decidedly un-Hawaiian shirt have more of a local flair.
The statue held a cardboard sign straight over its head, revealing an ample amount of underarm hair in the process. The sign read “Sweaty Jim’s Dinery-O-Rama” in sloppily scrawled lettering, apparently written by the same magic marker that had drawn the palm tree on the shirt. The statue also appeared to be perspiring heavily.
As Zeke approached the statue suddenly turned its head and spoke to him. “Hey there partner, welcome to Sweaty Jim’s Dinery-O-Rama. I’m Sweaty Jim, owner and proprietor of this fine establishment. ”
Zeke turned in shock. It wasn’t a statue after all but an actual person. “Uh, hello. I’m Zeke.”
“Pleased to meet you, Zeke,” Sweaty Jim said as he lowered the sign for a moment and extended his hand.
Zeke shook it uncertainly and then dropped it. There was an awkward silence as Sweaty Jim stared at him expectantly. “Um, what are you doing out here?” Zeke asked lamely.
YOU ARE READING
Tourist Trap
Fantasy[A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY] Okay, so Dr. Octavius is a kooky but lovable mad scientist. You'd really like him if you ever met him. But one day he disappears through a secret door into another world. His niece Sarah and his lab assistant Zeke set o...
