Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ The Journal of One, Leon Orcot ❯ May 17, 1999 ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

May 17, 1999
Well, a lot of insignificant things happened this week. I nearly killed myself riding my bike off road. I was hoping to take a shortcut towards Amsterdam. I took a spill over a hidden log. I'm just glad I didn't get a flat.
I've been camping out, lately. Not really the smartest choice. There are wolves and crap out here. But it's not the first time I've camped out. I can manage. I know how to keep a small fire going. I guess boyscout training paid off after all! I have a very light lean-to that I use in case of rain. Although, now I feel like I need to keep my bike drier than myself. Eh, I'll figure it out.
The bike has really paid off. I'm actually in Amsterdam right now. I would have gotten here sooner, but my attempted short cut turned out to not be so short after all. On the bright side of things, the bike seat isn't hurting me as much. I guess it just took a couple of days to get used to.
I'm sitting in a cafe in Chinatown right now. I got some sort of dumpling thing...I think it has chicken in it...with a side of vegetables. I couldn't read the menu...it was in Dutch and Chinese...and I might be making headway on speaking Chinese, there's no way in Hell I'm going to master reading it. Then again. Perhaps a menu isn't the worst place to start learning. I mean, the writing will generally be the same from Chinatown to Chinatown. And if it means I avoid ordering any of that 'birds nest soup'...ugh. Yeah, it's probably worth it. But I'd have to get some sort of book on the writing...I only have Walkman tapes and one of those books with the really ridiculous English spellings of the words, that don't even look like they are supposed to sound. Really, who made that system? Granted the whole tonal thing is a pain in the ass to translate It'd probably help if I was more musically inclined. As long as I can simply say 'chicken, vegetables, and coffee' I'm ok at a restaurant. Thank god it seems like most people understand what 'coffee' is. Or 'cafe'. Whichever. At least I won't be surprised there. Coffee is my drink of choice now. I don't drink tea anymore. Not since D left. As much as I was in the habit of drinking the stuff when he was around, after he left I just couldn't drink it. Nothing was ever quite as good as his tea. Teas. He always had some new exotic blend that his Grandfather had sent him. Well, supposedly sent him.
I'm not sure how that worked. I mean, his grandfather was supposed to be traveling the world, in search of new animals, spices, oddities, or whatever. And D would occasionally get packages from him. The weird part about that is, in the end, we discovered that Gramps had been with D the whole time, unbeknownst to any of us, including D. Yeah, that's another level of hocus pocus to add to the shitstorm. Gramps was hiding in plain sight as that...bat...thing. Q-chan, D called him. Men turning into bat-things. Like vampires, only not vampires. But that's a mystery I guess I'll never truly unravel. If D was surprised, then how the hell can I hope to understand? ...I wonder if D can turn into a bat too?
Anyway, Amsterdam. I'll start wandering the alleyways. Keep an eye out for the pet shop. Any pet shop. Keep my ears open to any and all Chinese spoken. Maybe I'll catch a break. I'll probably stick around here for a couple of days, no matter what I find. What single guy wouldn't? Honestly, if anyone ever found out I was in Amsterdam and single and DID'T see some of the 'sights'...well...yeah.