She would have been happy to know about the way Carter had been raised. Though she would never make another person feel bad about the way they had chosen to rear their child (at least not intentionally), Kammie was a firm believer that the world could use a great deal more positivity in it. She’d been ridiculed often enough her in life, both during her adult years and in her younger ones as a child. It had been difficult in the beginning to shake such things off, but these days, she found it easy. Once you were confident in yourself, and had made peace with the fact that a person’s negativity came from their own suffering, jeers made in passing came off more as something to be pitied rather than hurtful. That being said, she understood how other people might take offense, and for their sake, Kammie wished that more people poured their energy into kind words and positive reinforcement.
The friendly smile was indeed received as a sign that she was welcome. It was fortunate, however, that she’d managed to make note of it. Had Carter given her anything else, there was every chance that she would have accidentally overlooked it or misread it completely. Sometimes people had to be direct with her to get their point across, so until Carter asked her to leave the booth, she planned to share her lunch with him. Kammie had made untold amounts of friends this way. Even if she never spoke to him again, she would carry with her this experience and the story of today. That was enough for her. As she drew back her hand from the shake, Kammie brought it to meet the other in a prayer pose at her chest. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said as she bowed her head and raised it again with a smile. The handshake was often how she led in meeting new people in the States, however the later gesture was her preferred method. It was a sign of respect when greeting friends in the Buddhist tradition, and to Kammie, every new person she met was a friend.
“Survival,” she repeated, rolling around the word and the concept in her mind. It had a multitude of meanings, much like the “treat” that was the burger. Did he mean the daily survival of life? Or maybe he was referring to a literal physical threat that he had triumphed over? So many possibilities, and yet, Kammie had a vague sense that this was a subject better left up to mystery. She nodded her head in agreement. “Indeed it is!”
Before she could continue the conversation regarding the reward burger, a waitress finally found her and realized that she hadn’t put in her order yet. The other woman greeted her with a pleasant smile along with her inquiry. And that was when Kammie realized that she hadn’t paid nearly enough attention to the menu before she’d distracted herself. At first she considered getting the same meal she had before, but she wanted to try everything her at least once. That decision sent her into a spiral -- the fruit salad looks good… NO! wait, the four cheese macaroni could be good. But, so might the veggie wrap -- that would have been painful for anyone to privy to. Over her audible sounds of indecision, she could hear the waitress tapping her foot and she knew it was time to make a choice. “Umm,” she bit at her nail before closing her eyes and landing her finger somewhere on the menu. “I’ll have the Chipotle Bean Burrito.” The waitress gave a nod and a short chuckle before taking the menu from her.
With that hurdle out of the way, Kammie turned her attention back to Carter. “So, do you have any other kinds of reward systems?”