Apologies for the Lateitude
Wherein Our
Heroine had to Take Her Husband To Get His Truck Repaired This Morning and is
Therefore Posting a Bit Late...
"See you tomorrow!" That's what the
head chef at our favorite sushi joint always says as we walk out the door. It's
kind of funny and kind of clever. At first, we thought he was mistaking us for
someone else. We may be regulars - no, we are regulars. When the waitress has
your order going in before you even sit down, you are officially a regular.
Anyway, even though we often visit, we didn't assume he actually recognized us
as frequent appreciators of his creations. In point of fact, when he first said
it to us, he didn't recognize us. It's just something he says. Now he does
know us, though. It dates back from the evening I turned back as I was leaving
and said his tagline to him before he said it to us. He seemed to think that
was funny, so he's started to vary it - either with different intonations or
different words (one time he even said, "Hasta la vista" instead). We've also
had brief exchanges on neutral topics - sports, the weather, nothing intense -
we really don't know him, but somehow we know that we like him.
Relationships exist on a lot
of different frequencies - some are intense, some merely recognition. Some of
the most smile-inducing ones can be those that have the least actual time spent.
My mom once had a goofy sort of friendship with a seven-foot bicycle messenger
named Elvis. They cracked each other up with the pithy one-liners they passed
back and forth during package pickups and deliveries. One bright spring
morning, my mother passed Elvis on the street in
Boston.
"Warm weather's
coming!" said Mom.
"Yeah -
pretty soon I'll start wearing my thong," replied Elvis as he loped
past.
The next day, Mom
happened to see him
again.
"Did you say 'thong'?"
queried Mom.
"I wondered if
you caught that," replied Elvis, who was then gone
again.
I once met Elvis, who
told me how much he just loved my mother. All told, they had probably exchanged
200 words, yet he seemed to know her at just the right frequency. I think our
sushi chef is sort of like that. We see him about once every two weeks or so,
exchange a few words, and then everyone goes on with their lives, feeling a bit
warmer and fuzzier.
So -
anyone know how to say, "See you tomorrow" in Japanese? I want to surprise
him.
Posted: Friday - April 30, 2004 at 10:21 AM
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