Power Microcosm

Chapter 36

The United Kingdom is a lively country, that's for sure. Not at all bad, but a different way from the States are.

Getting off the double-decker bus that we rode, Azrael, Jane, Levi, and I hop out onto the sidewalk while paying up as we do. James is with us too, and he managed to show up yesterday, literally at the last moment when he drove up on the tarmac with the jet, and Azrael laughed a little as James stumbled out of his car with his suitcases.

Right now we're heading to a dinner with the business acquaintance of Garner Inc. here in the UK, and I think I caught his name as Raymond. I don't know his last name though, at least not yet.

We walk up to a restaurant with large windows and a dark wood interior. There are warm yellow lights and also long curtains of deep red that hang down to a thick carpet below. Some music with strings plays out and I listen to it as we walk up to a podium where a man stands.

"Hello, welcome to this establishment. Do you have a reservation tonight?" asks the waiter.

"Yes," says Azrael with a nod, "Mr. York. Table for six, I believe."

"Oh yes," says the waiter as he smiles and then indicates a part of the restaurant where curtains hide away a private table in a room connected to the main part of the restaurant, "I'll show you to your table."

"Thank you," says Azrael, and the waiter nods before showing the five of us to that table.

Pulling the curtain away, a large round table covered with a white table cloth is revealed with a middle-aged man with wavy brown hair and twinkling eyes. He notices us, and smiles before coming over to greet us.

"Azrael!" he says in a British accent, and hugs Azrael in a manner that I almost growl in.

"Hello, Raymond," says Azrael.

"Have you gained weight?" asks Raymond playfully as he pats Azrael's waist and grins.

"You'd know, wouldn't you," says Azrael with a chuckle, and I almost feel my eyeballs pop out of my head with the thought that these two were involved crosses my mind.

I glance over at Jane, who might know, and she gives me a look that she'll explain something later, but don't worry about it.

"Well, how have all of you been, Levi, Jane, James?" asks Raymond as he goes over to Levi and gives a hug as well.

"I've been great," replies Levi as he smiles in a friendly manner.

"Same here," says Jane as she also gets a hug.

"Still French here," says James with a laugh.

"Who might you be?" asks Raymond with a courteous smile to me.

"I'm Hogarth," I say and a hand-shake, "I'm Azrael's assistant."

"Oh, so I've heard," says Raymond with a large smile, "you seem to be the savior of Azrael's. As he said it."

"I hope I am," I say, and I think I see Azrael blush a large amount.

Though, as the lighting isn't the brightest in here that I can't be for certain.

Sitting down, we all put cloth napkins on our laps and waiters come by to ask what beverages we want and also tell us the dinner course that Raymond is treating us to.

"We'll serve an appetizer of soup, an entrée of steak, and an alternative of pork if you'd like, and desert," says a waiter, and another walks around pouring water for all of us and taking note of what wine or other drink we wanted.