A Buffet Dinner
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Tawrence Zheng, Grade 5
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Short Story
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2017
“Come on! Let’s go!” shouted Leo’s mum over everybody’s voice. “Don’t you want to come and have the half price meal? It’s a one-off offer!”
“Alright,” Leo replied grudgingly. His past experiences of buffets were very noisy and loud places, where even though it was crowded, he felt isolated. This was no different. The best café in Sydney at half price- who wouldn’t go?
“COME ON!” Leo’s mum interjected. “It’s already five thirty. The place might be crowded already.” Leo rushed into the car, unaware of the terrifying obstacles he was soon going to face.
Forty-five minutes later, they had arrived. Questions arose. Why were there only five cars parked in front of the building? Suspicion arose. Nevertheless, Leo and his mum strode into the buffet. Decorations, food, drinks, and plates, utensils: the buffet had them all. The only natural ingredient missing to make a perfect buffet was staff. It contained of only two living substances- Leo and his mum. A chill went down his spine. Leo’s mum called around the room, asking if there was any staff. No reply.
“Let’s go, mum,” Leo argued. “There’s nobody around that we could ask were the paying machine is.”
Leo’s mum turned a deaf ear to the remark and said,” Maybe it’s a free buffet! Wait…. that’s impossible. Who cares, let’s just go home.” Leo and his mum walked towards the car, only to find that the tyres were deflated. Panicking, Leo’s mum called the NRMA insurance, later finding that the signals had been cut off. Then, a masked figure walked out. He turned his hat inside out, and held out a gun.
Leo’s face turned pale and ran, but tripped over a branch. He recovered and ran straight into the door, and cursed for his stupidity. Shortly afterwards, the man took off his mask and explained that he was a neurology researcher, and was testing an experiment on reactions on humans when they panic.
“My experiment, thanks to you, is complete,” he said.
Leo’s mum, enraged, shouted, “Do you think it’s fun watching us panic? I’ll call the police!”
The scientist replied, “I have already contacted the police on this experiment. They agreed."
Leo’s mum continued, “If you do it again…”, but was interjected by the scientist who said calmly that it wouldn’t happen again. Fuming, Leo’s mum drove home, after the scientist repaired the tyres of the car, and gave them a free dinner. All’s well that ends well.