Rude (Choose Your Own Adventure)

Chapter 14

You cut off  a morsel of songbird terrine. It is savoury and tender, with a sauce of fine herbs. Hannibal watches your face closely as you eat it. 

'Delicious,' you say, and he nods, satisfied. 

'The songs of birds are beautiful sexual propositions,' he says, closing his eyes briefly as he tastes his own food. 'And it is much the same with human songs. Are you fond of music?'

You converse easily and enjoyably about music and the arts. Hannibal is well-informed and articulate, a good listener as well as an accomplished conversationalist, and you find yourself revealing more about yourself than you had planned. But the wine is intoxicating; his body across from yours at the table even more so. He seems amused, rather than appalled, by your encyclopaedic knowledge of 80s hair metal bands. When he gets up to clear the dishes and fetch the main course from the kitchen, you find yourself openly admiring his form and his movements.

He returns after a few minutes, wheeling a trolley. Something is sizzling on a hot metal plate in the centre, surrounded by lavish displays of vegetables, fruit and flowers. It is a large cut of meat, on the bone. The aroma of roasted meat is enticing, and you feel your mouth begin to water. Hannibal produces an enormous shiny knife and carves off paper-thin slices of rare meat.

'At certain Japanese beef farms, the cows are played music all day, to keep them contented and docile,' he says, laying the slices lovingly on warmed plates. 'This animal was also a music lover. But alas, not as docile as those harmonious cows. I think you will find a streak of naughtiness in the flavour.'

He places the plate in front of you, and pours a deep blood-red wine into your glass. Hannibal watches you even more closely than before, as you slice into your meat, raise it to your mouth, and chew.

You have a feeling that the course of the entire evening, and perhaps of your life, could change, depending on your reaction.

If you like it, turn to Chapter 15.

If you don't, turn to Chapter 16.