Dungeons & Deliveries - A Post Apocalypse Comedy Adventure [Book 1 Complete]

Toronto maintained multiple Chinatowns post System. It's also said, by Chinese immigrants no less, that you can get better Chinese food in Toronto than in Hong Kong. Giant restaurants dished out hundreds of plates twenty-four hours a day, welcoming mahjong games, wedding banquets, and armies of grandpas sipping tea and chain-smoking. There were plenty to choose from, but Alex took them to a special spot.

"It's OK that you're fat now," Mrs. Cheung said warmly to Alex as she placed another plate of steaming chow mein noodles and glazed red chicken on the glass lazy Susan. "You were too skinny. Skinny boy turned fat."

Alex laughed warmly and scooped another giant pile onto Mary and Aria's plates before serving himself. "What? You didn't miss me? Not even a little bit?"

Mary couldn't fit another bite. They'd already demolished spicy beef slick in chili oil, sticky rice steamed in lotus leaves, thick noodles covered in garlicky sauce, and sweet pork stuffed in cloud-like buns. Mrs. Cheung, one of the owners, a tiny, aged woman with infinite energy, even insisted on the chicken chunks dunked in a syrupy red forty glaze. The food had been piping hot delicious. But that's not what had surprised her most.

Alex knew Mrs. Cheung. And the old woman treated him like a grandson.

"This just means you strong and wealthy now," Mrs. Cheung rubbed Alex's bloated belly lovingly. "Attract all the ladies with this barrel. Can I set you up with a nice Chinese girl?"

Alex only laughed and kept chatting, oblivious to the curious families sneaking glances at their table. The old woman and her dopey roommate just kept yapping.

"Pass the chicken," Aria stood up on her chair, reaching for the bowl of delight. When she caught Mary's eye, she remembered her manners. "Please pass the chicken."

Mary snorted and served up another spoonful for the doll. She had to give it to her, the little lady could put it away. Aria had eaten practically as much as she had, and she was only ten inches tall. After lecturing her creation to the best of her ability, and calming some of her motherly nerves, some good late food in a warm place had brightened her mood.

The drones were so full of life. She wanted them to be their own people. To breathe existence into the world and see where the chips landed. And she had. It was everything she had hoped for in her work. But it was hard to nurture that spark when they kept diving head-first into trouble. She smoothed Aria's frizzy hair as the doll munched through her fourth helping and looked over at the boys.

There were round tables everywhere with families and groups sharing food. Chinese food was served family style, always. And Mary liked that. Little kids in various late-night activity uniforms ate with their parents and older relatives. Groups of young adults downed noodles and got hammered on cold tea. That's beer in tea containers for the uninitiated. There must have been a hundred tables eating, laughing, living.

Just like the boys, who were growing up way to fast and sitting with the old men at a far corner table.

CLACK

Beepy and Zippy stood atop a glass table, surrounded by a cloud of smoke and old-men chatter. They tag-teamed mahjong against an ancient man whose mustache hung to his chest. Around the table, a semi circle of grandpas leaned in close, muttering and smoking. It was clear something big had just happened, the old timers gasping and guffawing as the mustached elder froze mid-play at whatever trap the boys had sprung.

Beepy did a little wiggle. Zippy smacked the back of his brother's head while pointing sharply at the game. Clearly, they hadn't won just yet.

"Sauce," Aria brought her attention back to the table of food, reaching for the small bowl of syrupy red sauce. Again, she spotted Mary's raised eyebrows. "Ugh. Sauce. Pleeeeeeease." She made grabby hands.

Mary reached over and placed the soup bowl of sauce in front of the doll.

"You have no idea how much trouble he was," Mrs. Cheung said to her, snapping her attention to the old restaurant owner. "Still the same?"

She laughed politely. "Ha, yeah. Still the same. You know how he is." Did she?

An old man hollered at the woman from the swinging kitchen door, and Mrs. Cheung sighed. "Enjoy, and order more if you want," she turned to Alex and smiled. "No pay. On the house. And say hi to Emilio. Now that is a fat cat. But sweet."

"But Mrs. Cheung!" Alex protested, but the woman was already weaving back to the loud kitchen that never slept.

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Alex smiled to himself and tucked into his food. Mary watched him shovel a pound of noodles and seven sauce covered chicken balls into his face. Aria too wouldn't stop eating. Well, she was drinking the bowl of red sauce like a soup, but who was she to judge? It was a damn tradition to get late night Chinese food. Might as well enjoy it. After Alex slowed to an intense rather than a gluttonous pace, she couldn't hold in her question any longer.

"So…Mrs. Cheung? How do you know her?" She asked. "For free? All of this? What gives?"

Her friend looked up from his plate of food with stuffed cheeks. Aria stopped her sipping to smack her lips before continuing with a large slurp of the good stuff.

Finally, after swallowing, he answered. "I've known her for a long time. Longer than I've known you. Mrs. Cheung is good people."

Then he went back to eating. Typical boy, Mary thought, rolling her eyes. Aria sat in her chair and continued sipping.

"Yeah," Aria said innocently. "But how long? How do you know her? She's NICE," she lifted up the bowl of sauce meant for chicken balls. "This soup is AMAZING. It's like candy."

That got a smile out of her roommate. Mary recognized his hunched, defensive posture. It always happened anytime she brought up his past. He really didn't like to talk about it.

She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "How do you know her? This place has to be expensive. I mean, we could pay for all this food, but only recently. Yet she's acting like you're her favourite customer?"

He just moved his food around with chopsticks, thinking. Finally, and after Mary had to shush Aria from speaking up, he told them the truth.

"She caught me stealing," He smiled into his plate, then looked around the restaurant. "Back when I was…thirteen?"

"Stealing is bad!" Aria shouted, causing multiple families to look at her. She realized she was being rude, and leaned in to whisper. "It's bad, right? Stealing? No good."

"It's not always bad," Alex answered earnestly, leaning in. "What happens if someone can't afford food and they're hungry?"

"Well they can ask someone. Like family." Aria answered, smiling at Mary with sauce all over her sweater.

"And if no one will give them food? What if they don't have any friends or family to help them? What if they have a baby to feed? Is stealing OK then?"

"Well, yeah," The doll responded. "But then you don't have a choice. You have to do what you have to do."

Alex nodded, scooping up more chicken into his mouth. A sad look came across his face.

"You broke into the kitchen?" Aria asked, leaning back in.

"Not…exactly," Alex said to them. Again, he seemed to think for a second before coming to a decision to tell them. "Back when I was young, Aria, I didn't have someone like Mary looking after me. I was alone."

"Scary," The doll nodded before looking at Mary. "I mean, I can totally do things like an adult. But yeah, scary."

"Yes scary," He said. "I just had myself, after some…not so nice things happened. I was alone on the streets, scraping by and sleeping wherever was warmest. Pretty tough for someone so young."

"You didn't have a bed!?" The doll asked. "But beds are so comfortable."

Alex laughed. "No, I didn't have a bed. Well I did, only it was a bunch of cardboard boxes and whatever sheets I could find."

"So how did you steal from her? Mrs. Cheung is so nice!"

"That's what I mean," Alex continued. "I guess it's not stealing. The food was already thrown out for the night. Trust me, it still felt wrong and gross and I didn't like it. But this place threw out good food at the end of the night, and I was hungry. Trust me, rats and birds from Emilio gets pretty old after a while."

"Rats? Ew!" Aria giggled. "So she caught you taking the thrown out food?"

Alex looked across the busy restaurant at found Mrs. Cheung. The old woman was holding someone's baby and feeding it a wonton.

"Yeah," he smiled. "She did. I thought I was being slick. Was going through it late at night, like two, three in the morning. Found myself a restaurant that no one else was taking from. And the street rats fight over the scraps. Suddenly this old woman is yelling at me from the back door of this place. It was Mrs. Cheung. Only she wasn't yelling at me to go away, or calling me off."

"What was she yelling?" Mary finally chimed in.

"She was yelling at me to come out of the cold," He replied. "Let me wash up in the back, made me fresh food. Not all the time, I didn't want to feel icky about relying on an old woman's charity. But when I needed it, Mrs. Cheung was there. She's good people."

Mary had a pretty bitter view on the world. Growing up blind wasn't easy, and it's not like the Council cared about installing anything that might make navigating the world for the disabled. But she looked at the old woman, who was now wiping red sauce from an old man's face who ate alone. She had her friends, and a boyfriend, and some pretty kick-ass bots who loved her. She did her best. Maybe the world wasn't so shit after all.

"I'm sorry you had to steal the yummy soup," Aria offered before sipping again. "I would totally steal it too if it was just lying around."

CLACK

Across the room, Beepy's voice rang out. "VICTORY ACQUIRED." Zippy tooted out a mechanical triumph sound.

Everyone in the restaurant snapped their heads around as the brothers threw their arms up and started a synchronized dance on the glass table. The crowd of grandpas erupted in laughter and applause. Even a few families at nearby tables joined in. The old whiskered man sulked, forlorn into his cup of tea.

Aria jumped back up, spilling more sauce all over herself. "That's my brothers! Go Beepy! Go Zippy!"

Her brothers pointed at her from across the room, and the three drones dances together. Aria from her chair, the boys from the table.

Alex leaned back and took it all in. He grabbed his plate and decided he could fit one more helping. If he'd learned anything, it was to eat the good food and enjoy the good company while it lasted. As he reached for the noodles, he noticed the evil eye charm blinking away.

Yeah, yeah. Keep scrying but shove it. I'm eating with my friends.

He dug in. They had survived the night, and tomorrow it was back to work for more Dungeon deliveries. For tonight though, he ate. He had to honour the timeless tradition in Toronto of late-night Chinese.