Dinner discussion

[ghargreaves]

The restaurant in the hotel was relatively busy, patrons from both the hotel, and outside, enjoying the cuisine. Gerald had booked a table after confirming a time with Julianna, and was, as usual, early. He had ordered a gin and tonic, and was just finishing it when the sommelier, or at least what Americans thought passed as one, appeared with the bottle of wine Gerald had ordered.

"Yes, that's the one," he confirmed when shown the label, nodding when asked if he would like it opened. "Yes, it needs to breath," he told the young man, figuring that if nothing else, at least the chap would have a better understanding of the role he was employed to fulfill. "And another gin and tonic, if you would be so kind," he told him, pleased he hadn't had to tell the chap that the bottle should be opened in front of him and left to breath on the table. At some ghastly restaurant in New York they'd tried to take the bottle away, and tried to act offended when he clearly pointed out that he wasn't about to give them the opportunity to decant the wine in the bottle and replace it with a cheaper variety.

He nodded his approval of the linen napkin that was correctly draped around the neck of the bottle, as he had instructed, and settled back in his chair, returning to observing the tide of humanity that was dining in the Golden Nugget that evening.

Comments

Re: Dinner discussion

[ghargreaves]

"I don't know how long I will be staying at the moment, so I will remain here for the meanwhile." Gerald dissected his meat with the same delicate precision he would employ when revealing the secrets of the ancient world from it's entombment in millenia of soil and compaction. The vegetables on his plate were cut into equal sizes and a combination of them forked together before being placed in his mouth for consumption.

"Lake Mohave, this is somewhere to the west, southwest?" he added, wondering if Julianna had heard of this town, Searchlight, that he had been directed to.

Re: Dinner discussion

[st_clare]

"It's to the south, about an hour from Las Vegas," she answered. "I didn't expect to find somewhere for recreational swimming outside of a hotel pool in an arid place like this, but I intend to go back in the summer when the weather is more typical of the state."

It piqued her curiosity that Gerald might not remain in Nevada permanently, but in his line of work travel was imperative because the next treasure trove could be found anywhere. Was he looking for something in particular?

"Is there to be a dig in the vicinity?"

Re: Dinner discussion

[ghargreaves]

"A long drive for somewhere to swim," he joked, "but you say they have cruises? A day beneath sail was always a good salve to the soul," he mused, "and something I haven't had the opportunity to do since my last visit to Cairo. Even that wasn't the most pleasant as the weather wasn't particularly pleasant and the pollution in the air made it even less enjoyable. I would hazard that there is little of that problem at this Lake Mohave, given the lack of population and industry? And no, sadly no dig, as there is little to no evidence of anything buried beneath the sands, other than more sands. The natives of this land were seemingly more nomadic, so just as it is in the greater part of many desert regions, there is little to justify any sort of archeological search." He paused for a moment, before adding, in a slightly quieter tone, "which of course means there could be things going undiscovered that were not necessarily architectural in nature, yet still of archeological interest."