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A blush coloring her cheeks, the fifty-ish woman smiled. “Oh, he’s a keeper,” she
said to Samantha. “Not only handsome, but a great sense of humor.” She fluttered her
eyelashes when she looked up at Lugal. It seemed women were incapable of resisting
the urge to give in to that feminine wile, among others, when they found themselves
within spitting distance of the big, sexy barbarian.
The man was a bona-fide babe magnet, for chrissakes.
Samantha almost wished she had a sturdy broom at her side to bat away all the
drooling brazen hussies disguised in mom jeans.
Fortunately, Lugal seemed more captivated by the cavernous grocery store and its
contents than its shoppers and staff.
“The people of my time would never believe this. It is like a miracle,” he said,
examining the produce and dairy sections. “Such bounty, such an infinite variety of
foodstuffs. Hunger would be eliminated. Samantha, the yield here could feed an entire
city for countless days.”
Samantha gazed around, trying to see the grocery store through Lugal’s eyes. It was
true, a stranger to a modern supermarket could easily get the idea that this was a world
and time free of hunger. She thought of the meager offerings so many people had to live
on and felt the sting of glut guilt. Samantha and most people she knew took the
availability of food for granted. They didn’t stop to appreciate that they never had to
worry where their next meal was coming from.
The only time real hunger became an issue was when they were on a diet.
119
Daisy Dexter Dobbs
She rolled her eyes at the ludicrous thought. This trek to the store had given her a
better understanding why dieting, with its accompanying food deprivation, seemed like
such an absurd concept to Lugal.
Times may have changed dramatically over a few thousand years, but not
necessarily for the better in some cases. Samantha imagined that dieting and body
image issues didn’t even make the list of the top one hundred things a Sumerian
worried about on a daily basis…
Oh, gods, blood is running in the streets, the enemy is fast approaching, but I dare not flee
because my ass doth look gargantuan in this toga.
“There’s still plenty of hunger in the world, Lugal. There are the haves and the have
nots. Those with more than they could ever use, those with enough and those who are
always in need.”
Lugal gave a thoughtful nod. “I understand. It was much the same in my time. It is
a pity that this inequality still exists after so many centuries. It appears that envy, greed
and the thirst for power are forever present.” Lugal sniffed the air. “I smell meat
roasting over a fire,” he said, without skipping a beat. “My mouth waters.” Grabbing
her hand, he yanked Samantha and her shopping cart alongside him and headed for the
savory aroma.
“That’s rotisserie chicken you smell,” Samantha explained as they headed toward
the meat department. “We can pick one up for dinner if you like.”
“What is this?” Lugal picked up a giant economy-sized bag of tortilla chips and a
jar of salsa from a featured display along the way. In fact, Samantha could barely roll
the shopping cart a few feet without Lugal halting as he made another wondrous new
discovery.
By the time they reached the checkout counter, the groaning cart was filled to
overflowing with delectable, decidedly non-diet-approved goodies.
Except for the five Lean Cuisines Samantha guiltily heaped on at the last minute.
Gazing at the array of mouthwatering treats moving along the conveyor belt as the
clerk scanned them, she felt a torrent of guilt wash over her. There was enough food
going in those shopping bags to feed a family of four for a week.
She swallowed hard, making a mental note to give extra to her favorite charities, as
well as the local food banks, from now on. Of course, if she kept spending money at the
rate she had today, with the mall purchase, the kinky toy stuff and all the food, she’d be
broke in no time.
“Now that I have told you about my past, little one,” Lugal said as they loaded the
bags into her already stuffed car trunk, “you will tell me all about yourself. After that, I
will tell you about your three wishes.”
Samantha huffed a little laugh. “There’s really not much to tell. My life is about as
boring as you can get.” She glanced over at Lugal. Her genie. Her lover. “Well, at least it
was until yesterday. Things have changed a bit since then.”
120
Samantha and Her Genie
“Why do you live alone? Do you not have family?”
“There isn’t anyone else. My parents were older when they had me. They passed
away a few years ago. I miss them a lot, they were great. I’ll show you some photos
when we get home. No brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or cousins. Just me.” She smiled.
“And some good friends like Rosie and Charlie.”
“I am sorry that your parents are no longer with you. But I like Rosie and Charlie
and their little goats very much.”
Samantha knew she should correct Lugal about the little goats thing, but it just
made her smile each time he said it. He was so serious, so earnest. English and
Grammar 101 could come later.
“Did you have children of your own…or a wife?”
“Nay. I had planned to pursue those pleasures after I retired from soldiering. Being
in my third decade, I was already growing too old for the vigorous life of a warrior. The
constant sea of bloodied body parts had lost its luster.”
“Yeah,” Samantha nodded, not even wanting to imagine something so heinous. “I
can definitely see how that could happen.” She couldn’t help being glib about it. The
stark reality of all that butchery was just too atrocious to comprehend.
“Worse yet were the suffering half-dead men at my command, many limbless or
with their bellies split open like melons and their entrails spilling out on the ground.”
A shudder vibrated through Samantha’s body.
“I can still hear their distressed cries, pleading for merciful deaths at my hand.”
Lugal stiffened for a moment as he bent over the trunk, shopping bag in hand. “It was
not a pleasant task.”
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