Library of Alexandria
Chapter 3
Michael and John spent a relaxing weekend together. Jetlag slowly faded into the past, but their ardor for each other didn't. Now that they were more rested, they resumed their married life with spontaneous romps in the bed. Anyone watching them would be hard pressed to figure out which one was the top and which was the bottom. These men were the poster boys for versatile.
Clearly, their lives together weren't only about the sex. They obviously loved each other and the work they were doing with their benefactor, Mr. Asquith. Enjoying one another's company was one of the reasons they were together. A love of ancient languages and artifacts kept them intellectually challenged. Of course, hot sex on a daily basis helped cement their bond, too.
The sorting, cataloguing, and photographing of the great horde of manuscripts, books, clay tablets, and scrolls took much longer than was anticipated. The graduate students had dropped out of their classes to spend full time on their new tasks at the Asquith estate. He paid all of them handsomely to forego their advanced education for a little longer. A little longer was five months of arduous cataloguing before they had finished. Now began the more difficult task of translating and publishing. A few of the more accomplished linguists among them remained. The rest returned to graduate school.
Mr. Asquith had tantalized his colleagues in academia and in museums about his find. He drew to him all the renowned experts on ancient civilizations to assist him in translating the find. They didn't need to be asked twice, especially when he offered them accommodations and a daily stipend. When they had all gathered at the estate, Mr. Asquith alerted the media to the treasure trove of ancient writings that he'd uncovered. However, he first had asked Michael and John to assist him in translating some of the most ancient documents and their stories about the oldest civilizations, far older than Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The young men could hardly contain their excitement over what they'd discovered. The Latin texts had told a tale of the gods and early civilizations that no one in the modern era had ever heard about. A few of those texts that were translated into Latin also contained the original script of the earliest language. The text said that the gods had taught the people how to read and write and told those people to record their important events and the details of their civilization as it grew under the tutelage of the gods. It was an astonishing epic. And this was only one of the texts that they'd translated; many others waited translation, too. That was one of the reasons Mr. Asquith had invited his colleagues. There weren't enough people in the local area with the requisite skills to accomplish this. Hence, the need to bring in other learned men and women from around the world.
As an afterthought, John suggested that a linguist who was also well versed in symbol recognition software would be a necessary addition to the cadre of experts gathering. That would prove to be the best idea anyone had come up with. Some of the ancient texts were so difficult that even the brilliant scribes at the Library of Alexandria couldn't translate them. The Egyptians and Babylonians were said to have tried, too, but they had also failed. Admitting that their task was impossible, the scribes at Alexandria dutifully transcribed the texts as they saw them for future generations to solve.
However, that was still a few months into the future. Today, the media was presented to an august panel of language and history experts who unanimously pronounced the find as genuine. After a few minutes of questions about that, the podium was turned over to Mr. Asquith. He thanked them for coming, explained how the artifacts had been discovered and the subsequent translation of the bibliography. He had supplied all of them with that listing. Numerous questions came up about some of the lands and people that weren't familiar to any of them. "Those ancient people aren't known to us either. However, we do have the texts and are endeavoring to translate them. Mention has been made of these very ancient people in a few of the texts we have translated." He gave Michael and John credit for translating the bibliography and the first working translation of the first full text. It had already been verified, with a couple of suggested word substitutions by other experts.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are all able to read, so I'm not going to stand up here and read the text to you. That translation is available to you now. My assistants will pass it out to you. Meanwhile, I'll summarize what the text indicates," he said. "But first, I need to set the stage for what the earth was experiencing at the time this ancient civilization flourished. The earth had just gone through the last ice age. The ice had moved down to cover about half of the United States and about half of Europe. South of that frigid glacial mass was a very dry area, but south of that were temperate plains and forests. Most experts will tell you that there were three major flood events: between 15,000 and 14,000 years ago, a second one between 12,000 and 11,000 years ago, and a final one about 8,000 to 7,000 years ago. As the glaciers receded each time, the earth rebounded from the incredible weight of a thick mile of ice. This caused earthquakes on a regular and violent basis. It was probably just before the second inundation that the civilization of Atlantis arose." There was a stir among the reporters, clearly questioning the very existence of Atlantis. "The historical record contained in these scrolls, clay tablets, books, and other preserved writings are very clear on this. Although the name associated with the civilization and subsequent cataclysm wasn't exactly Atlantis, but it was phonetically the equivalent. However, the first civilization that I'm talking about was before the time of Atlantis." Once more the room erupted in disbelief.
"It makes no difference to us whether you believe us or not. The texts are very clear as to what transpired those many thousands of years ago. You may bring in your own experts to examine and translate the same texts that we have. However, you'll find that nearly all of those experts sit here on this panel with me today." He looked sternly down on the assembled media and frowned. Immediately, they went silent. A few people in the print media summoned underlings to take the translated text and get it to their editors immediately. If all this was true, this was the scoop of the century! Television and the internet continued to train their cameras on Mr. Asquith. Occasionally they would pan the camera across the stage to point out the experts behind him.
He looked down at his notes and resumed. "Again, this is a summary. You already have the full translation in front of you. My summary will be available at the conclusion of today's remark. Through the millennia, much has been deleted or summarized by subsequent scribes. So, there will be unexplained gaps in the narrative as well as events about which we can only wish the authors had told us more. The people called themselves the Okam. From what we can deduce, they lived about 16,000 years ago. As far as we can determine without examining all of the texts in our possession, they were the first to become agrarian, instead of the hunter-gatherers that had previous occupied earth.
"We are still uncertain, but we think these people were from the area between current day Italy and Croatia. And before you get your nickers in a twist, the Mediterranean Sea and specifically the Adriatic had far lower sea levels than currently exist. This was lowland with forests, rich soils and a mild, temperate climate. That is in the fossil record. However, because it is now buried beneath the sea, we have no way of documenting it without staging a major archeological expedition in deep water. I just don't see that happening. During this Paleolithic period, the glaciers were in retreat and the waters started to rise. Eventually, they were flooded out of their farmland. The people melted into the surrounding countryside, absorbed into other populations or possibly went to Malta before the land bridge connection vanished under the sea.
"But, according to the text, they traded with seafaring people to the south of them. That would indicate other people, perhaps in Sicily or Malta which were joined to Italy at the time or traders from the Greek Islands, Crete, or the Middle East. It is also possible they traded with people from the Black Sea area. The Black Sea at that time was landlocked and smaller than it is now, but fed by glacial runoff. In any case, the tale of their existence and the richness of their land was written down and preserved. We even know the name of the man who wrote down the tale. His name was Mem.
"He said that they were simple farmers and herders who had come into this fertile area from the north. The ice was retreating and the sea was rising, so he knew that his land would soon be submerged. He tells us that the gods came to them in their flaming canoes and taught them how to farm better and increase their flocks and to read and write. The gods helped them create tools that improved on the ones they made of stone or antler or wood. Their new tools were made of a hardened material that gleamed in the sun. The writer didn't give us details as to what he meant. We don't think that they were taught how to forge metals such as copper or bronze. The gods did instruct them on how to defend themselves against raiders, but would never fight their battles for them, even though the gods were more powerful than any man or army of men, according to our scribe.
"The gods showed them how to make bigger canoes that could travel on the sea like some of the traders that came to their shores infrequently. Once the traders discovered that these people had the best crops and animals and reading and writing skills that could record their commercial dealings, they traded more frequently. However, the traders weren't consistent. The storms on the sea were brutal and often sank the small ships. Even the Okam people couldn't tame the rages of the sea. Only a few brave men continued to trade by sea. The rest were farmers and herders, with one exception.
"There was a priestly class which made offerings and prayed to the gods. They made astronomical observations and knew that the earth was round, not flat like all the other cultures thought. Did the gods tell them that or did they deduce it for themselves? We don't know. But, Mem did write down predictions about solar and lunar eclipses, so they weren't ignorant of celestial events. They knew about the planets and their orbits about the sun. They knew that the sun was the center of the solar system. Mem also made note of Uranus and Neptune, even though they couldn't see them with their observations. Did the gods tell them? Again, we have no idea how they knew about those outer planets without the benefit of telescopes.
"The Okam lived under a succession of kings who had ruled wisely for more than 1,000 years, in consultation with the gods. The king was selected from among the people for his wisdom and fearlessness. But, the last kings had been aggressive with their neighbors and had enslaved them. The gods were angry with them and withdrew their help. The people prayed for the gods to hear their prayers and come back, but the skies never again filled with the fiery canoes of the gods. Mem writes that the combination of the sea rise and the anger of their neighbors for enslaving them caused the downfall of their people. He closed his narrative by stating that he had written the account of his people down three times and sent copies on three different ships, hoping to preserve a memory of the Okam.
"If more than one survived, we have no record of that. The only thing we know is that the Okam people disappeared and only his story was copied and passed down to future generations of traders. Learned men of the newer rising civilizations would translate his story into their language. His tale was one of warning to other people to obey the gods and not get aggressive with their neighbors. However, the caution about enslaving people was obviously ignored."
Mr. Asquith looked up from his notes. "We are trying to translate the Atlantean texts next, but they are far more difficult. The scribes in the Library of Alexandria didn't have much luck in translating them either, so they translated what they thought was correct and left gaps in their record for future scribes to translate. With computer technology, we may be able to do better with symbol recognition software. However, it is also possible we'll never be able to translate it."
One of the television correspondents asked, "You said texts. Does that mean more than one written record concerning Atlantis?"
"It does. We also have versions of Plato's Timaeus and Critias that predate the versions that have come down to our day. The differences aren't major, but they are striking. There is more information in them about the Atlantean people and the destruction of it. I expect it to be very interesting reading when we compare the two more closely."
Another television personality spoke up. "Do you suspect you will find even earlier accounts of civilizations?"
"Modern humans were fully evolved by about 100,000 years ago. The earliest written record we've seen so far is the one I just spoke of. There are cave paintings that date from about 40,000 years ago. What happened in those intervening 60,000 years? Did another civilization arise before or after that cave drawing period? So far, we have no answers," Mr. Asquith shrugged. "And there have been many archeologists who have postulated that there were civilizations on the Indian subcontinent up to 16,000 years ago. China and Japan may have had ancient civilizations, too. We just don't know and haven't found any records to prove or deny such a claim. We have no writings from the new collection that speak to that, however."
"You mentioned in passing that Malta may have been the refuge for the last people from Okam," another questioner asked. "Why do you think that's possible?"
"Some archeologists think that the inundation maps hold the key to the Maltese civilization and the building of Hypogeum and the Gigantija, Hagar Qim, & the Mnajdra temples. Those structures date from about 5,600 years ago. However, the technology and engineering to erect those stone edifices, some of which had building stones that weighed 15 tons, show that there had to be previous accumulated knowledge. Therefore, the Maltese civilization had to predate those structures by centuries, probably millennia. There is no civilization history' that shows how they got to their scientific prowess. The Mnajdra is a solar temple with accurate solar alignments. To build such a structure, the society had to have a long history of observation and building strategies, including failures, to get that structure built. Again, where is the civilization history' that gets them there? It may not have been the Okam people who started them on their engineering and scientific road, but they might have. At this point, without additional data, it is only speculation.
"Ptolemy had maps drawn which were copies of earlier maps which showed Malta attached to the mainland. His maps were copied from the Phoenician Marinus of Tyre, who got his information from earlier maps in his possession. Did the Okam people draw maps of the shores around their area of the Mediterranean before the Great Floods occurred? Were those maps redrawn and redrawn by mariners down through the ages until Ptolemy drew his version? Until we examine all the texts, scrolls, and other writings, we won't have a definitive answer for that. However, it has been known for years that mariners were excellent map makers. And they treasured them. We may get lucky and find a few of those in this collection."
There were other questions that speculated that the gods in the flaming canoes were aliens. At that point, Mr. Asquith closed the conference. His parting words were, "If you have additional, realistic questions, please forward them on to my research team. Their e-mail address is on the hand-out you all received earlier." With that he turned and left the room. His panel of experts followed him. Several shouted questions followed them out of the room, but no one turned to answer them.
"Except for that last idiotic question, I thought the presentation went well," Mr. Asquith said to Michael and John. "Are you ready to answer the flood of questions you'll soon get?"
"With help from the experts you've brought in, I'm sure we can handle it," Michael said. Everyone returned to their translating duties for the balance of the day. But, their translating duties were sidetracked by a flood of interview requests from the print and electronic media. Every network and major newspaper around the world and periodic magazines wanted a piece of Mr. Asquith. Failing that, they bombarded the panel of experts. Michael and John weren't immune to the requests, either.
Andrew Milbank was a star reporter on the most popular news network in the United States. He had his own news hour, plus he anchored another monthly program that featured the most significant newsmaker of the month. Of course, Mr. Asquith refused his request for an interview. That left the panel of experts, but after initial contact with them, Andrew decided that they didn't have sufficient "presence" to appear on his newsmakers program. It was clear to him that Michael and John were the real news behind the discovery. Reading between the lines of the news release, he knew he was right.
Initially, he thought that one of them would be adequate for his hour-long program, but after talking to them individually, it was very clear that they were a couple and would add more to his program if they were on together. Besides they were a handsome couple with a great deal of sex appeal. The ratings would go through the roof!
Michael and John negotiated hard with him and finally got what they wanted. The money was adequate, which they would donate to the preservation and translation of the Library of Alexandria. Mr. Asquith had been thinking of creating his own museum to house the bulk of the discovery. This would be a good start in funding that enterprise. But, what they really wanted was rights to review and fix errors in the program. Mr. Milbank finally agreed, promising that they had nothing to worry about. Michael and John didn't agree, knowing how news organization would attempt to sensationalize the discovery with false or misleading teasers or content.
With Mr. Asquith's approval, they taped the interview at the estate with some of the discovered items as backdrop. Their boss also approved the contract that Michael and John signed with the network, being very specific about content review. He promised the network that he would sue and win any lawsuit that resulted in them not honoring the terms and conditions. "I have deeper pockets than you do and much better lawyers who could bankrupt your network if you don't comply," he warned them.
Further, it was agreed that Mr. Milbank could ask any question about the discovery and the contents thereof. However, there was no guarantee that Michael or John would answer the questions. Mr. Asquith reminded them that the interviewer would probably ask them a lot of speculative questions. They needed to answer truthfully, but not join in the speculation as to what might or might not be in the cache of treasures they'd discovered. Also, they didn't need to speculate as to the significance or meaning of those texts, maps, codices, literature, or other artifacts.
They smiled their understanding. "We can speculate all we want here, but not in front of the general public," Mr. Asquith grinned. "And the panelists are already speculating about much of what is in the bibliography without even seeing the item noted. I'm not holding them back from translating and reviewing any items from the Library. Whatever interests them, they have full access to."
The day of the interview taping finally came. They dressed in conservative suits which only showed off their beautiful bodies. They spent time in make-up to take the shine off their faces. With a little lipstick to show off their beautiful mouths, they were ready.
Mr. Milbank started out with a number of easy questions about how they discovered the Library of Alexandria. They had to dance carefully here. The clay tablet with the map from the monastery that directed them to the find was not going to agree with where the actual treasure was located. Considering that the only thing that had been released besides the translation of the text concerning the Okam people was the bibliography, it was clear that they couldn't disclose the existence of the map on the clay tablet. That map pointed to the Sinai Peninsula, not Rome. However, because Mr. Asquith had been funding the dig outside Rome, it was a serendipitous connection. And the additional discovery of a matching bibliography at the Roman dig was confirmation of their initial discovery from the monastery.
Knowing that this was a weak link in their chain of discovery, they had discussed the "official" version with Mr. Asquith. The graduate students who had helped them haul away the library contents from the Sinai Peninsula were sworn to secrecy. As the identity of those students was not known to anyone outside of the estate, Mr. Asquith hoped that the "official" version would stand up. But, he also knew that it probably wouldn't stay a secret forever. So, he guaranteed the students that he would pay for their graduate school and would make certain that they had jobs for the rest of their lives working with the Library's contents. All the students had to do was keep their mouths shut. Revealing the Library's true resting place for nearly two millennia would probably result in their confiscation and perhaps destruction by religious zealots. The students were as eager to participate in the translation and preservation of the Library as Michael and John were. Mr. Asquith hoped that would be enough to keep the true version secret for many years.
Having brushed by the "discovery" question, Andrew Milbank pressed on with more substantive questions. "You and several graduate students translated the bibliography of the Library," Andrew stated. "What surprised you the most about the contents of that bibliography?"
Michael took the question first. "I was most surprised by the places and names I'd never heard of. From the bibliography, I didn't know if they were place names that were in another language or they were places that ancient texts had never mentioned before."
"What surprised me most was how extensive the collection was and how readable the bibliography was after nearly two millennia underground," John volunteered. "And when we found that not only was the bibliography enormous, but the actual texts, maps, literature, history, and artifacts were there, too."
"Which of the many artifacts and texts do you think will cause historians to rewrite human history?" Andrew asked.
"Without complete studies and translations of everything we have, that question can't be answered," John replied. "Not yet, at least." Michael nodded.
"I've seen the bibliography, but that doesn't really tell me the scale of what you have awaiting translating and classifying at the Asquith estate," Mr. Milbank began. "Just how much is there in quantity?"
"Uh, well," Michael replied, "there were four plane loads of shipping containers that we pulled out of the dig in Italy. Some of the containers had items that took up a large space like the amphorae. Other items like clay tablets and books took up less volume. The loose scrolls were scattered about most of the containers, but carefully cushioned so that they wouldn't be harmed by the physical act of shipping."
"Nothing came through damaged?" Andrew pressed.
"As far as we can determine, no. Nothing was damaged," John smiled. "That's not to say that some items weren't damaged before we got to them."
"Such as?" the newsman asked.
"Some tablets were cracked or split," Michael volunteered. "A few scrolls had disintegrated, but we took them back anyway. Even a partial scroll can reveal a lot."
"Have you opened all the amphorae to see what's in them?"
"No," John responded. "Those that had tags on them that corresponded to the bibliography we have set aside for later. At this point, it is up to the scholars to decide which part of the collection should be worked on first."
"Each of these experts has his or her fields of interest, so they'll tackle those artifacts first," Michael added.
"How long do you think it will be before you've sorted, classified, and translated everything?" Andrew wondered.
John and Michael laughed. "We have no idea. It depends on how difficult the translations are. Then there is the cross referencing and checking with other scholars to make sure that the translation is correct. These people have lives, so they will need to push away from the intensity of their work and relax for a few days or weeks before they go back and work again," John smiled.
"Are we talking years, then?" Andrew pressed.
"Probably," Michael shrugged.
"That being the case, when do you expect the next text or other material to be revealed to the world?" the interviewer asked.
"That's probably the same answer," John said. "It all depends on how fast the experts work and how certain they feel about what they've translated. As we've pointed out already, some of the works are only a few paragraphs, others go on for pages and pages. A few paragraphs could be monumentally important, or it could be a grocery list. We won't know until we get there."
"A grocery list?" Andrew pressed.
John laughed. "Well, it won't be a grocery list or it would have been part of the bibliography. What I was trying to say was that it could be something incredibly mundane, something that doesn't add to the lexicon of information we already have."
"The bibliography is only as good as the people who created it," Michael allowed. "Just like today's indices don't always include everything that is in that body of work. This bibliography could be one that hits on the high points, in the opinion of the chronicler. Remember, they were doing all of this by hand. Even a scholar gets tired."
"So, who is deciding when the individual pieces of text are released?"
"That's up to the scholar doing the work," Michael answered. "But, remember they are scholars and they want their discoveries and translations to stand the test of time. They don't want to be laughed at because they got something drastically wrong by rushing the translation out. It will be vetted by other experts. Additionally, I would expect (if the past is any indicator) that the translations will be released with a commentary to go with it. That commentary could be anything, such as an estimate as to when the artifact was created and where. At the very least, the commentary will tell us that we just don't know anything about it other than what it says. Something as momentous as the contents of the Library of Alexandria needs to be put in context, if we can."
"So, what will you personally do as your part of the effort?"
"Both of us are fluent in classical Latin," Michael stated. "Nearly all the texts are written in that language. So, we can pick and choose from the panoply of artifacts in the collection. Of course, the experts will get first choice. That's as it should be."
"And some of the texts aren't in Latin?"
"It seems quite a number aren't. They are in Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian just to name a few. Either they don't have a translation with them, or the experts will compare the ancient texts with the Latin translations that were done two millennia ago," John replied.
"What about the Atlantean texts?" Andrew asked. "I know that many of our viewers are very interested in that."
The two Latin experts looked at each other. "Well, that's not something we know yet," Michael began. "We know there are eleven references to Atlantis in the bibliography, but I don't know if any of them are in Latin. Do you, John?"
John shook his head. "I haven't spoken to anyone who has looked at those references to even know what medium was used to record the information. They could be on tablets, scrolls, books, or something else."
"And they may be just passing references. We do know that Plato talked about Atlantis. But, the version that came down to us is muddled. And the eleven references to Atlantis may be just as muddled as Plato's is," Michael sighed. "We just don't know."
"Will the original texts be published untranslated?"
"Our understanding from Mr. Asquith is that the translations as well as any commentary that goes with them will include photos of the original," John said. "That's how scholarship works."
"There was a question asked at the news conference the other day that Mr. Asquith ignored and abruptly closed the conference," Andrew reminded them. "Were the Okams visited by aliens who showed them how to improve their lives?"
"That's pure speculation based on very ethereal evidence," John bristled. "Is it possible? Of course it is. Anything's possible. But, is it probable? No. Unless there is solid historical evidence, including unequivocal texts or physical evidence, speculation is just that. It is not reality."
"Not to denigrate anyone's personal beliefs," Michael chimed in, "but it is historically accurate to say that ancient mankind did not understand the physical world around them. Therefore, they tried to create explanations that gave them comfort. One of those creative comforts is to give the gods the power to do to the people as the gods choose. Mankind had no control over the weather, death, crop failures, and other calamities. So, they blamed the gods or gave the gods credit. You see it in all ancient cultures."
Milbank asked several other questions, but nothing that wasn't easy for John and Michael to handle. As this was an hour-long program, some of the time would be filled with commercials and other parts with a voice-over and camera scans of the rooms where the artifacts were stored as well as the dig outside Rome. Additionally, there was footage that included the Minister of Antiquities in Italy at his retirement villa. The former Minister was quick to point out that he had been considering retiring, but after this momentous discovery, he thought he should depart on a high note. No one dug further into his decision.
They waited two weeks before the final program was edited and forward on to Mr. Asquith for review and comment. As he watched the program with Michael and John, they all made notes of issues that could be misconstrued by the viewer. When the program was over, Mr. Asquith asked their opinions. They looked down at their notes and considered the question.
Michael was the first to respond. "I remember how the interview went. It was mostly softball questions. They have changed the order of the questions from when we were interviewed, but that's their prerogative. The only problem I see was the question about aliens and the Okams. However, that question was bound to come up. But, I think it was answered satisfactorily. What do you think, John?"
"I agree. Nothing jumped out at me, except that question and our response to it. I suppose we could have finessed it better, but I'm not sure it would have made any difference," John sighed.
"I think you did very well, considering that I should have anticipated that question and taken some time to discuss with you what kind of answer you should have given. However, it's water under the bridge now," he acknowledged. "It could have been worse, it could have been better, but I don't see grounds for protesting what they'll be broadcasting."
The network had teasers out two weeks before the actual broadcast. The teasers showed a few of the questions that Andrew Milbank posed with a few cameo pictures of Michael and John smiling. Answers were not part of the teasers. On the evening of the broadcast, the buzz about the program was palpable. Even the other broadcast networks took note of it.
It was a triumph! Michael and John became famous overnight. Andrew Milbank solidified his rankings as the premiere newscaster. The day following the newscast, Andrew called Michael and John and invited them to dinner. "Rest assured that anything we discuss over dinner is deep background and not for attribution," Andrew promised.
Seeing no problem with that, they agreed to dinner. However, they did let Mr. Asquith know of the appointment with Andrew. He also saw no problem. "But, do be careful," their boss cautioned. "If he starts to press you on something you feel uncomfortable about, be sure that he agrees that what you are about to say is off the record and not on deep background. After you get his agreement, say anything you want."
Michael and John left the estate early to shower and get dressed for dinner with Andrew. They made the "mistake" of showering together. Of course, that led to a mutual breeding session. Consequently, they were 10 minutes late to their dinner appointment. They did have the good manners to call Mr. Milbank and let him know that they'd been delayed. He told them that he was a little late himself and would probably get to the restaurant about the same time that they did.
When they stepped inside the restaurant, they were greeted by the maître d'hôtel. John said that they were meeting Andrew Milbank at any moment. Before the maître d'hôtel could respond, Andrew walked up behind them with a smile and a wink. "Your table is ready, sir," the head waiter said. "Please follow me." Michael went first, followed by John, and then by Andrew Milbank.
After they were seated, they were presented with the extensive wine list and a menu. They were told of the chef's selections for the evening and were left alone for a few moments. "The chef is a master of food," Andrew smiled. "I absolutely recommend his suggestion for the evening. It isn't dissimilar from a Beef Wellington," he added.
"That sounds very good to me," Michael smiled.
"I think I'll go with the duck l'orange," John said.
"Both excellent choices," Andrew allowed. "But, tonight I feel like something from the sea. The Chilean sea bass looks good. Now, how about a wine selection? I would suggest something not too heavy to go with our dishes."
"Whatever you think is best," John demurred. "We aren't as up on our wines as we should."
"Yeah, we're more of the bubbly crowd. We like just about anything that's crémant, champagne, Prosecco, or cava," Michael smirked. "Of course, it doesn't go with everything, but that's our still favorite drink."
"I think that would be perfect as a palate teaser," Andrew grinned. "Something that would go well with an appetizer I think. Do you trust me to order a decent champagne and hors d'oeuvres to go with it?" His guests nodded. "Excellent!" He caught the eye of their waiter and ordered a crémant from the Loire Valley, an assortment of cheeses and olives, and their wine to go with dinner. They placed their dinner orders at the same time.
Over their champagne and appetizers, Andrew smiled and asked, "How long have you been a couple?"
Michael and John nearly choked on their champagne at the sudden personal nature of the question. Michael finally asked, "What makes you think we're a couple?" John was still coughing.
"Anyone with a brain can see that you're deeply in love with each other as well as enjoying each other's company," Andrew smiled sweetly. "Besides, we have bags and bags of fan mail for you at the studio, asking if both or either of you would available for dates. Nearly all of them are from men. A few are from women. Of course, some women don't have a clue about how to figure out that a man is gay. However, before any of those men get a response from you, I'd like to know if you'd be interested in going to bed with me. I think both of you are very hot. My suggestion presupposes that you are interested in fucking around with me and aren't monogamous."
This story is fiction. You're life isn't. Always play safe.
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