Ramlethal Goes To IHOP
Elphelt, Ramlethal, and Sin were in the car on the way to somewhere they had all wanted to go as soon as they heard about it. They had to drive pretty far, as there was only one of these places in Ilyria.
“Yaaay IHOP!” Sin cheered from the back seat, looking out the window to see the brown faux-wood roof and smiling logo on the sign.
Ramlethal parked the car right near the front of the restaurant. It didn’t look like many people were here today, which was good- it meant less people would be bothered by the general loudness of her sister and friend. They all spilled out of the car. She held the door open for them, and felt the magical air-conditioning escape out into the summer heat. The pole of Sin’s flag thankfully cleared the top of the doorframe, but it was a close one.
Almost as soon as the trio sat down and started looking at the menu, she felt Elphelt grab her shoulder, “LOOK! THEY HAVE SONIC!” was whisper-shouted into her ear as she looked down to see pictures of Sonic the hedgehog characters printed on the menu next to the breakfast foods. It seems they were having some kind of promotional event. Elphelt was a huge fan of the pink one- “Amy Rose” as she’d been told many times. She smiled, knowing already what her sister would be ordering.
“These all look sooo good…” Sin mumbled from across the table, “Which one has the most food?”
Ramlethal pointed out an option on the side of the menu, “You could get a meal. It comes with eggs and bacon.”
“I’ll think about it! … What are you going to get Ram?”
Ramlethal realized that she hadn’t thought at all about what she wanted, so she took some time to look at all the options.
“Hi there! Are you ready to order?”
The waitress stood by their table with a pencil and pad of paper in her hand.
“We sure are!” Elphelt replied, “I’ll get the Amy’s sweet strawberry delight!”
“Great! I probably could have guessed that one.” The waitress said, smiling at Elphelt’s all-pink attire. “And for you?”
“Um, I’ll have the meal… with the fruit pancakes.” In the end, she had been tempted by the bacon.
“Alright, and you?”
“I’ll get the meal too- with the plain pancakes and two extra of them!”
“Great! Anything else?”
“Can I have one of those coloring pages?”
While they waited for their food, Sin was coloring in the picture on the kids menu as neatly as was possible with crayons.
Their orders arrived, and after thanking the waitress, Elphelt whipped out her pink Polaroid camera to take a picture of her (also pink) waffles with the little paper Amy sticking out of them. Ramlethal watched as Sin picked up each of the different flavored syrup containers on the table and poured a little bit on each part of his pancakes.
“You guys too! Smile!” Elphelt pointed her camera at Ram and Sin who hastily looked up just in time. The picture slowly printed from the bottom of the camera.
The eggs and the bacon- they were alright. The pancakes were very sweet but not bad. The best part was getting to enjoy them in a novel environment with her friends. Pop music played softly over the speakers, and Sin ate all of his pancakes frighteningly quickly.
After they had all finished eating, the waitress came back with their bill. “Together, or separately?” She asked.
“I’ve got it.” Ramlethal handed over enough world dollars to cover all the food. Unlike the other two, she actually had a steady job, and felt proud to be able to do something for them.
As they walked back out into the parking lot, Sin jogged over to a small grassy area.
“Elphie! Take a picture of me!” He called, and then started doing cartwheels in the grass.
“It’s not gonna be good if you’re moving!!” Elphelt yelled, trying to take one anyway.
“It’s really the little things in life that are most important to treasure…” Ramlethal thought, “Mediocre pancakes and good friends.”