Free Road to Casablanca by Leah Leonard Page A

and jewelry.
    She easily found her way to the patio where Erick was waiting for her, a huge smile on his face as he stood to greet her with a kiss on her cheek.
    “Have a good rest? You look great.”
    She wondered if he meant it, but accepted the compliment anyway.
    “Thanks, so do you.”  
    He looked good enough to eat…too good, as a matter of fact.   His shirt blew in the arid desert heat and his khaki pants snugly hugged his behind.   She’d noticed that when he’d left her room earlier, but now with in full daylight, it was truly a sight for sore eyes.
    “Our table is over here.”
    She followed him to the far side of patio and into the far corner. The table was short and they had to practically squat to be seated on a bed of hand embroidered pillows.
    Cindy laughed as she sank into them, feeling like a child at a tea party.
    “It’s not easy to sit here, but once you make your way down, I think it’s comfortable.”
    “Yeah, it reminds me of a table I had when I was a little girl.”
    The waiter followed them to their seat and immediately placed an enormous platter of food in the center of the square table.
    “My goodness, that’s a lot!”
    “This is the traditional fare here.   It’s actually pretty good.”
    Not sure of what it all was, Cindy recognized potatoes, squash of some kind and some dumplings.  
    As she looked for the serving utensils and waited politely for Erick to serve her, instead he abruptly reached into the plate with his hands and helped himself.
    Visibly shocked by what she perceived to be his unbelievable lack of manners, Cindy was speechless.  
    Erick laughed hysterically when he saw the look on her face.
    “You think I was raised by wolves, huh?”
    “What?”
    “Don’t try to pretend with me.   I saw the way you looked at me just a minute ago.   It was priceless.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “When I picked up the food with my hands…”
    “Oh.”
    ‘That’s the custom here.   It’s perfectly acceptable.”
    “Oh…”
    “I would have helped your plate, but I wasn’t sure we know each other well enough yet.”
    “Thanks for that, anyhow.   Does that mean I need to dip in there too?”
    “I’m happy to do it for you if you’d like.”
    Cindy stared at the plate and Erick continued to chuckle.  
    “No, I can handle it, thank you.”
    Delicately, she reached in and put two potatoes and a piece of squash on her plate.
    “Oh come on now, you’re going to have to eat more than that…..”
    “What’s that?”
    She pointed to the dumplings and to some other darker balls of something she didn’t recognize as Erick popped them into his mouth and smiled.
    “I’m not sure, but they taste pretty darned good.   Try it.”
    Cindy picked up two of each and put them on her plate.
    “You know, when I was a kid, I would be grounded for a week for eating with my hands.”
    “Oh you’re telling me?   My father would get his belt out at the table if we spoke out of line.”
    They shared a smile and Cindy reached out and put one of the dumplings in her mouth.
    “Hey, this is good.”
    “Would I lead you astray?”
    “I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know about that in a couple days, okay?”
    The waiter then appeared with a steaming hot tea kettle and filled their empty mugs.
    “Mmmmm, what is that?   It smells incredible.”
    “That, my dear is the traditional Moroccan spearmint tea, a local delicacy of sorts.”
    “This is delicious, and the food is wonderful, too, really relaxing.”
    “It is good, but if you want relaxing, just wait until this afternoon.   I think you’ll feel like a new woman after that.”
    Cindy smiled at him as she sipped her tea and tried to relax.   He was so darned good-looking she was certain she’d be tongue-tied if it weren’t for her incredible physical exhaustion.   He was quite an interesting man and she couldn’t wait to learn more about him.
    “I appreciate the dress and the jewelry, thanks.”
    “You’re