5.

Norman had finished studying the fat chubby hand on his left, thinking that at least one person has seen a good pasture, the hand on his right was, well, right, not thin and not fat, with long fingers that were trying their best not to fiddle with a white cloth napkin.

Norman put down his napkin.  Then picked it up again, just to hold onto the piece of cloth gave him comfort.  He looked across the table, three pairs of hands he couldn't see, the owners had their hands neatly tucked  underneath the table on their laps.  All this hand watching made Norman self conscious of his hands, he moved his hands slowly, till they were on his lap, still holding the napkin.

Then his brain fired, he guess it had to do something but all of a sudden the niggle, the not quite right found consciousness.  If this place was an hour and a half behind the mainland, he could have caught the ferry.  The times on the board on the mainland said the ferry would return at 6.30 pm.  He had not changed his watch to Island time as the voice had recommended. His watch was on mainland time and he had most definitely an hour before the ferry left.

So how could he have missed the ferry if the Island was an hour and a half behind the mainland.  Was his math skills failing him.  He didn't think so.  Or did the 'sir' man mean something else by Island time.  Norman felt uneasy, some piece of information had been hooked up like a worm and left to dangle underneath a float waiting for the fish to work out if they dared to take a bite.  Was he supposed to stand up and yell and scream that he was missing his ferry or what?  Now that he was in the refectory seated at a very long table he could work out easy enough that he would definitely be missing the 6.30 ferry no matter what time was followed.

A noise from his stomach sounded loud and he hoped that his imagination was working overtime on the volume.  The sandwiches he had eaten for lunch were now just a memory and a little comfort in eating might be all the comfort he would get tonight.

The candle on the stand waved and twisted, waiters appeared from some corner that Norman could not see,  they were holding trays, at last thought Norman, food.  When he saw what was on the tray he almost said no, but the brain was remembering another thing the 'sir' man had said.  Don't think too hard about the look of the bread.   He was looking at a lace of bubbles, the outer crust resembled bread.  He hoped that it was bread and tasted better than it looked.  Norman almost said no to a piece of the bread, especially when he could see that the majority of hands were waving no.

The words 'be thankful for your daily bread' whispered, then his brain made the words into a mantra, his stomach echoed the brains labor of the mantra by gurgling at the sight his eyes were seeing.  One of his hands released itself from its position on his lap and closed all but one finger. The waiter placed one piece of bubble bread on his plate.

Norman eyed the bread with suspicion, his stomach pleaded.  His hands gave in to the demands of an empty stomach and cut the piece of bread into quarters.  Then his right hand picked up one of the quarters and placed the piece of bread into a mouth that he could not remember opening.

Norman was not expecting the piece of bread to fizz and crackle against his teeth.  And because it is not polite to spit out of your mouth what you have just put into it Norman swallowed the contents in his mouth, trying not to choke as they slid down his esophagus fizzing and crackling.

Norman stared at the remaining three pieces of bread.  Too much soda was the verdict.  Then he belched.

'Pardon me,' escaped from his lips before he could think past the surprise and embarrassment of making a noise when you are supposed to be quiet.  Norman's embarrassment eased when he heard another belch followed by a dozen or so more belches, and pardon me's.

This is going to be one unusual meal, Norman thought to himself.  He looked at the remaining pieces of bread, full of bubbles and too much soda.  But will I survive?  He hoped he could.