Lets go to ALL YOU CAN EAT

Lets go to ALL YOU CAN EAT.

The sun was brutal since this morning. Tammy could feel it burning on her skin inside the air-conditioned car.

She stared at the passing streets while humming impatiently with the radio. Tammy's mom was driving. She had just picked Tammy up from the Saturday school. The traffic wasn't that great because it was the social hour for the parents' automobiles to get close enough to bump into each other.

"Tammy" was actually an English name picked from a name book just one year ago at a local English cram school. Her real name was Shi-yen Lin. Mostly, Shi-yen preferred to be called as Tammy because then everyone would know she was learning English and capable to spell “a-p-p-l-e” out loud. Just like other 10 year old, Tammy would like to have a 4G mobile for her birthday.

12:33, Mrs. Lin, Tammy's mom was driving at 60 km, her fastest speed.
Are you hungry, Tammy?
Yeah . . .
Me too . . . Dad is not home for lunch today. We can eat out.
Lets go to that one!
Excited, Tammy pressed her index finger on the window glass. In her direction, there was a steak house with a big sign on: ALL YOU CAN EAT.

The steak house as Mrs. Lin remembered used to be a posh place to dine. It was closed for some time and had been neglected since then. Now the neon wires framed the magic words to attract hungry souls like moths to the light.
Only if you are that hungry, dear.
Mrs. Lin did a swift turn and went straight to the restaurant parking lot. This morning she had to prepare her husband's meeting material and missed her breakfast.

A very tiny girl in the black servant uniform led them to their table, right beside the big panels of glass windows. The traffic outside had lost its volume. Tammy looked at the girl's shiny name tag: J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r, the same name as their Chinese teacher who taught English in the cram school.

Teacher Jennifer was always frowning because she had to put everyone into sleep during nap time while the other western teachers went out to have a cold beer. But soon Tammy forgot about her school, she found herself standing among all the amazing delicacies: juicy steaks, Beijing ducks, smoked salmon, grilled shrimps, fired rice, creamy soup, sushi, lobster, all kinds of ice cream, cakes, soft drink and different color of meat. The list just went on and on!!! It was constantly evolving because there were people frying and cooking depending on what combination of raw material you brought to them. The smell of food swirling and blending together was far more exciting than the department store's ice cream cone smell.

Mrs. Lin put on a plate of clams and oysters on the frying counter and soon there were a line of people formed behind her. After all, it's still lunch time. Plates were socializing too, only in a more chaotic way than the cars. Each plate was piled up with massive color and odor, a steak with black pepper sauce next to a rosemary lamb chop under a whole buttered trout besides some sashimi, broccoli, piece of guava and Taiwanese fried noodles on the very top.

Tammy wasn't all that hungry before but now she just wanted it all!!

The strawberries crashed between her teeth, meat juice gushed down her throat, lettuces making the crunchy noise in her head, the grease of ducks shined on her forehead and fingers, Tammy felt an urge to pour in more and more.

In fact, the whole steak house was in such atmosphere. No matter how fat, how skinny, how big or how little you were, it's just impossible to stop eating and keep taking food from the food trays. All the eyes were drowning in the pattern of food and immersed in a delightful guilt-free situation. Certainly you not going to waste your money without trying everything and stuffing yourself to death. The emptied plates were carried away, cleaned and put back again by waiters dressed in neat uniforms.

Mrs. Lin didn't see her husband until she finished her 13th plate and sucked out the juice of the shrimp's open head. That was when she felt too full and had the time to look around. He was touching a girl's hair. Out of her surprise, she noticed not only her husband, but also the fat woman at the corner, the students in a row, the old guy by the bathroom and even the baby girl in the cart were all doing something grotesque to themselves or to other people. 

It started out as very subtle and almost no one felt uncomfortable about it. The movement was playful and sensual, gradually from a dull repetitive single note to a more intense chord. The students were now all crawling on the floor, busy caressing each other with excessive grapes, cheese and tomatoes. Some of the girl had their tops removed and wine was pouring down to their bare breasts......