Genevieve’s was an institution then: a typical student dive with chromium and Laminex tables, cheerful staff and a menu with a whole bunch of fairly tasty but unhealthy food. It was the place to go whether you were going to the movies next door or simply skipping classes. Kids in the U.S. might reasonably have mistaken it for a diner or a 1950’s drugstore – but it wasn’t actually either. It was just “Genevieve’s”. As I entered, I noted that Genevieve’s was deserted but there were the usual signs that the Zombie Apocalypse had called by. Upturned tables, shattered crockery and coagulated blood on the floor – but no actual corpses. That was a pleasant change. The lights were still on and, as it turned out, the fridges were still operating. The sight that this particular starving man beheld upon opening the main fridge door was blissful. It was fully stocked with all the treats that Genevieve’s customarily served to its youthful crowd. “Pancakes and ice-cream it is!” I said. I heated a skillet on the stove and made a bowl of pancake mix. A bit of oil in the pan, a minute or two on medium flame, flip each pancake near the end and voila! Pancakes. Load the resulting ‘stack’ with maple syrup and several scoops of ice-cream and you have a starving man’s salvation. I offered some to David – seated at a nearby table – but he seemed repelled at the very idea of eating living folks’ food. So, I ate it all myself while he watched me with his dead eyes. I shouldn’t have eaten so much food nor food so rich in sugar because, truth be told, I really had been starving, clinically so. I hadn’t eaten a solid meal since the initial onslaught – just a few packs of snack-food from the vending machines in the library. So, yes, I threw up – you don’t need the details but I imagined David was thinking “I told you so!”
Chi Gwynnuwer o le pur boesek ena: fow studhyek gans moesow gwrys a gromium ha lamineks, mayni lowenek ha rol-voes gans meur a voes sawrek mes anyagh. Yth o an le mayth es mar mynnes mos dhe’n fylmow an nessa daras po skapya yn sempel an klassow. Y hallsa an yonkers dhiworth SUA y gammgemmeres avel ‘diner’ po shoppa apotekary an blydhynnyow 1950 – mes, yn hwir, nyns o po an eyl po y gila. “Chi Gwynnuwer” o hepken. Ha my entrys, my a verkyas bos dibobel Chi Gwynnuwer mes yth esa an sinys, herwydh usadow, re dremensa gordhroglamm an zombis an fordh ma: moesow disevys, lestri-pri brywys ha goes kowlys war an leur – mes nyns esa korfow vyth. Chanj plesont o henna. An golowys o hwath yn fyw ha, dre happ, yth esa an yeynellow hwath owth oberi. An gwel a viras an den ow famya ma, hag ev igerys daras an chyf yeynell, o leun a lowender ragdho: lenwys o gans stokk, stokk a draow hweg a venestras Chi Gwynnuwer herwydh usadow dh’y vush yowynk. “Kevyn krampoeth ha dyenn rew!” yn-medhav. My a doemmhes leswedh war an forn ha gul bollas kemmysk krampoeth. Tamm oyl y’n leswedh, unn vynysenn po diw kres-flamm, treyl pub krampoethenn pan yw ogas dhe worfennys ha voila! Krampoeth. Argh an ‘stack’ (bern) a syw gans sugen gwinwel ha lies loyas a dhyenn rew hag ottenna! Selwyans dhe dhen ow famya. My a offras tamm dhe Dhavydh, a’y esedh dhe voes a-ogas, mes yth heveli y vos divlasys yn feur gans an tybyans a dhybri boes an dus vyw. Ytho, my a’n dybris oll anodho hag ev ow mirys orthymm gans y dhewlagas marow. Ny dalvien vy dybri kemmys boes na voes mar lenwys gans sugra drefenn, dhe wir, y fien vy ow famya, yn klynykal. Ny dhyb’sen boes gwir a-dhia an kynsa omsettyans – a-der nebes fardelligow a demmyn dhiworth an jynnow-wertha y’n lyverva. Ytho, ya, my a hwyjyas – nyns eus edhomm dhywgh a’n manylyon mes y tybis Davydh dhe brederi: “My a dherivas dhis yndella!”langbot langbot