Jeremy and Lyon walked side by side to a shack at the right edge of the field which evidently served as the diner.
Walking into the disordered space, a short smile appeared on his face as he watched some girls serving the men food with a huge tray.
Olivera must be here. He had thought. He couldn't wait to see her again. It seemed like ages since he had seen her.
They were served a watery looking substance and bread, immediately they took their seats on one of the small wooden tables.
"What is this?" He asked Lyon, as he used his spoon to scoop some of the substance and slanting it, let it run freely back to the plate. It had a weird smell too.
"No idea. But it is almost the only thing that they cook." Lyon replied, digging into his meal enthusiastically. He was hungry, after that much work.
"They?" Jeremy asked, casting short glances at the girls in flimsy dresses. A dreadful feeling enveloped him when he considered the fact that Olivera might be wearing the same cloth. If she was, then she was bound to be in trouble, given her physical features.
Although she had always claimed to be ugly, and not as pretty as her sister, he had thought it a lie.
At one time he had believed it, not until the evening he had issued her a surprise visit during their last days in school.
Her mother had answered the door and had led him to her room.
She had been in just bum shorts and a light singlet which had did no good in biding her taut nipples which poked behind the tiny peice of clothing.
And when she had hugged him in surprise, then turned around to arrange her bedding, he had admitted to himself that her buttocks were anything but small.
His view on her body had changed that evening.
He had concluded, not wanting to embarrass her with the question (knowing her timid self), that she had always worn oversize clothes to cover up the goodies, believing her sister's no good comments about her body.
Looking around now, while waiting for his new friend to swallow the substance in his mouth and answer his question, he scrunched his eyebrows as he discovered that Olivera wasn't in the shack with the other girls.
Where was she?
He also noticed that some of the girls were letting some of males to play around with them. Something his Olivera wouldn't do - one of the many reasons why he liked her; she wasn't cheap like the other girls he had come to know.
He scoffed lowly, watching one of the men grope the left breast of one of the girls who were serving them, not wanting to attract enemies on his first day.
After all, it wasn't his business.
Only Olivera was.
"You should stop staring at them. They would think that you are interested. You're handsome too." He heard Lyon say, and shrugged.
"That's their business. They could never make me do what I don't want to do." He replied.
"You don't know that. Well, in answer to your funny question, the girls cook the dish. Don't ask me why they always cook this dish. Here comes one of them. You can ask her. Although if I were you, I will just shut up and eat the food before it gets cold. It's the only thing you will have to replenish your strength." Lyon advised, before scooping the soup into his mouth with the wooden spoon.
Jeremy soughed as he heard Lyon's statement.
True to his friend's words, there was a girl with bright yellow hair approaching their small table; and she had a smile on her face.
"Hullo there...I haven't seen you before." The pacific girl recited in a chirpy tone, after greeting Lyon who just hummed a reply.
"Yes. I just came in yesterday." He replied, with a short tentative smile on his lips.
"Okay... welcome then. Aren't you eating your food? You won't like the soup if it gets cold." The girl stated, and he looked down at his meal, and then back at her, not even knowing what to say to that statement.
He didn't even like the soup if it was hot!
"Uh…. okay then. Nice meeting you. My name is Naya." She mentioned, stretching forth her hands, after seeing that he wasn't going to give her an answer.
"Nice meeting you Naya. I'm Jeremy." He said, shaking her hand, aware from the corner of his eyes that within these few seconds of introduction, he had managed to snag the attention of the whole occupants of the shack.
**
After Naya had left to another table, shaking her booties as she did, Jeremy unconcerned by the blatant invitation and a bit surprised at their thorough acceptance of their slavery(for he had thought that they would have been ridden with the type of sadness and frustration that masked the real contours of their faces), refocused his sight on his meal.
"It's not as bad as it looks." Lyon chipped in, noting his hesitancy in having the meal.
"If you say so." Jeremy said, before biting off a chunk of bread, and matching it up with a spoonful of soup.
"How is it?" Lyon asked, looking at him. He was already done with his meal.
"Not bad." He replied with a shrug, taking another bite of the hard but delicious bread.
"I told you so. If we are lucky, they might serve it to us as dinner. If not, we would be sleeping on empty stomachs after dissipating all our energy in the field. So, endeavor to eat all." Lyon opined.
Mmmhmmm. He hummed in acceptance, as he swallowed another gulp of soup. The liquid substance wasn't bad either. He didn't know what it was, but it was okay with him as far as it's taste was pleasant to his tongue.
"Are all the female slaves here?" He asked, after some beats. He was almost done with the meal.
"No. I don't think so. I think they come in here in batches though. Why are you asking? Are you looking for someone?" Lyon inquired.
"Yes. My best friend." Jeremy replied, roaming the room with his eyes, a bit troubled that he wasn't seeing Olivera.
"Oh, best friend….I see. You might see her after the day's work then; when we are led back to our cells." Lyon stated, before tapping him on the back.
"Let's go. The taskmaster is coming."