I've had just enough time to... ask the girl what book she is reading...
Taken one evening of Harry's in Manhattan, Kansas
A very long time ago, when I was a young man; I found myself
thousands of miles away from home in a small town called Manhattan. Not the one
in the Big Apple. They called this “the little apple” and some Americans do not
even know it exists. The taxi driver looked at me with suspicion for while he
was loading the luggage, I promptly went over to his door and opened it only to
discover we drove on different side of the road.
I learned a lot of things in my first winter. Snow balls
hurt. You can only make two before your fingers froze. Why pushing a car up a
very gentle but icy slope is so exhausting. I did not like the cold and the
damp. Beyond the heavenly sight, I did not like anything about winter but hot
coffee after the snow had never tasted so delicious. But what did I know? I was
in my early twenties and have only known one type of weather before then. Experience
has now taught me that the first impression is not necessarily the most
accurate. Years later, I was sitting next to a lumberjack on my way to Canada
and he has this glow as he described how cities depressed him and his most
sublime moments are in the wild of the Canadian forest at minus forty.
Fine dining in a grand old restaurant with history...
Now I was back to this little town and the flood of
nostalgia that I expected to hit me did not come. I have lost connections with
most of the past I spent in this place. I still remembered some particular
events that left a lasting impression but then I’ve always have these and my
being there did not dredge out new ones from my subconscious. It was kind of
disappointing. Maybe, it was because I spent too little time there this trip,
only a day and working most of it.
In the evening, the ADM manager who was born in this town
took us to his favourite restaurant – Harry’s. As students, we were too poor to
dine in this fine place then. I was delighted to be assailed by the sombre
atmosphere of a place leaden with history. I imagined the dining hall now populated
by happy diners filled with water in the great Manhattan flood of 1951 and the
restoration that made it what it is today. We were led to a private room at the
very end separated by a glass partition.
The girl who consumed appetizer, dinner, dessert and book.
While waiting for our food, we chatted with our cheerful waitress
and learned that she is from Australia. The world has gotten a whole lot
smaller. My gaze wandered and rested on a girl seated in the most secluded
corner of the restaurant. She was reading a book with her back towards me
totally engrossed. I observed her throughout dinner from the appetizer to the
main course and dessert. She has a good appetite and seemed to enjoy her food
but she continued reading in between bites.
She and the book she was reading intrigued me. To my
scale of attractiveness, next to a girl with a musical instrument (see “Did you fall in love with the music or the musician?”); is a girl with a book. Even
after they cleared her table, she continued reading. As we were leaving the
restaurant, I went over and asked her –
“Hi, I noticed
that you were thoroughly enjoying this book. May I know what it is you are
reading?
She looked up with a smile and said “Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It is good.”
“I am sure. I must
get that book. Thank you”.
We
left Manhattan the next morning and that evening in Kansas City, I asked the cashier
in Barnes & Nobles if the book is in stock and she let me upstairs and found
for me the box set of the Mistborn Trilogy. On the way out, I picked up “World
War Z” which I read on the long flight back to Malaysia and which turned out to
be the my most surprising read of the year. I would like to tell her that – it is
good too. I enjoyed picking my souvenir this way.
