Illegal Aliens X

Welcome to weekend writing warriors. Many fine authors, and me, contribute short snippets for your delectation. This is the start of a new work, Illegal Aliens. It is something of a cross between a horror story, a science fiction tale, and a romance.

Roland, an archaeology instructor at Reading University (academic ranks in the UK are different than in the US, he’d be an assistant professor in the land of the free), is on his way to London. He’s on call when something unusual turns up in the works on the new underground. After an interesting conversation on the train, he arrives to find the odd item – a block of Roman Concrete which is covered in inscriptions.

Roland’s dinner continues, with an unusual choice of meal. He has just asked his visitor if she’s hungry. She has just sniffed him and told him he’s the one. Shades of the Matrix?  Continuing from last week  things are about to heat up.

The bartender put the bottle on the counter, “Roland, lad, Here’s the plonk.” Roland started to stand but the woman reached over and touched him; he shivered at the touch, as though a spark passed between them.

The bartender laughed, “I’ll bring it over; time you met another girl.”

In the background, his cook called out, “two burgers, one curry.”

After the food arrived, the woman looked at her plate, “This isn’t meat.”

“Take the bread off.”

She still stared in confusion, and then tentatively picked up the patty.

“That’s not how you eat it,” Roland reached over with his knife and fork, cut a piece, and offered it to her; she put her mouth over the piece and pulled it off; she swallowed, “Meat, it is meat.” Smiling at him, she picked up her fork, and her knife, and after some initial awkwardness, cut a piece of her burger, “For you.”

My sincere apologies for abusing semi-colons.

I found an Americanism that had crept in, Barkeep. I mean Bartender, actually Landlord or Publican.

While I’m on the subject of Americanisms, Yanks tend to hold their utensils upside down. Eating forks with 3 or 4 tines, as opposed to cooking tools, became established in Britain during the 18th century. Typically they were flat and used to stab/hold things. Curved forks were developed in Germany towards the end of the 18th century, but by then the stab/balance on the back of the fork pattern of British and European usage was established. It wasn’t until after the American revolution that the curved spoon-like forks we use today became popular. Hence Yanks tend to use forks like spoons.  The most practical way to use the forks in the image above is to use them to hold down a piece of food while cutting it, and then to switch to a spoon to bring the morsel and sauce/dripping to your mouth. Mind you now we’ve moved on to those awful sporks.

The featured image shows the Royal Berkshire regiment playing in 2006 outside the Oracle in Reading. They were recruiting, and for the fun of it playing an arrangement of the Black Adder theme.

You can find my, well our, works here.

Author: Amelia

A mild-mannered professor of computer science in real-life, I remove my glasses in the evening to become, well, a mild-mannered author in my alternate reality. I mostly write sweet romantic fiction, although with an occasional science-fiction or paranormal angle thrown in. I have interests in history, mathematics (D'oh), and cryptography. I'm also something of an Anglophile, and know that country pretty well. In addition to writing, research, and more writing, I volunteer with the scouts. I'm something of a nature-nut, enjoying long walks in the country with almost ultra-light gear, boating, and identifying wildlife. View all posts by Amelia