I went to Wing Tin after the opera to pick up some lunch for myself. While waiting, I looked around inconspicuously. (I love to observe people but don't want to get attacked if found out.) This father with his two sons caught my attention.
The apathy on their face. I feel so sad when I see that expression on people's faces.
And the way the boys are sitting. And the way they hold their chopsticks. And the way they chew. And the way they fight for a piece of meat. And the expressionless face of the father.
I wonder where the mother is. Is today the father's turn to have the boys? Is the mother working on Saturday? Is the mother...dead? Has the mother left the father? Did they teach the boys how to sit and have table manners? And other manners in life?
I imagine when these boys grow up and have girlfriends. Will they eat in a fancy restaurant with their sweethearts sitting across at the table and eat like this?! I hope not! Their legs sprawl out on the chair, their torsos slump over, theirs shoulders sag, and they hold their chopsticks like they are going to get dropped any minute and you wonder if they can pick up anything at all. Will they eat like that when they become fathers? They sit sloppily at the table like they are just filling up their stomachs and no more.
The younger boy is the most lively person among the three. Father and older brother both have flat affect. Nothing on their faces. Null. Their bodies are stiff too. The younger boy though, has the most actions. He turns to see if food is coming. He is the first one to get rice for himself. I wanted to see if he would get rice for his father and brother, but he only attended to himself. Boba drink came next, he grabbed it and got himself well taken care of. His brother got a piece of meat and he took it from his brother's chopsticks!! He smiled sneakily at the brother and he won. The whole time the father was oblivious to the interaction and just sat there, his eyes hollow and blank. He put some food in his older son's plate, and I thought he was defending him from the little robber. But next he put some on his plate too. At least he is being fair, I said to myself. And I breathed a whisper of a sigh of relief.
I looked around the restaurant, and I could see no gentlemen manners. Unshaven, unkempt, barely waking-up looks on their faces, nothingness on their faces. Slurpping soup/noodles, loudly sipping tea, talking as if no one was around them, poking their noses, blowing into napkins, wiping their mouths like a pirate of the Carribbean, they seem to enjoy themselves, unaware of their contribution to a big picture with one horrified "admirer"-- me.
She must be the owner of the restaurant. This lady who speaks Beijing Mandarin but has all Cantonese speaking cooks and waitresses working for her. She looked at my tunic and said, like making an announcement, "where did you buy this? " I whispered to her where, and she announced, "I thought you bought it from Ross. I saw one like this and I really liked it...should have gotten it." I thought about how much I spent on this tunic and she thought I got it from Ross!! My food came and I quickly walked out.
I love their food, and that is the most important thing. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment