Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I went to my regular Chinese restaurant for lunch today. I was eating my soup when they seated another woman at the far side of the round table I was at. She recognized me and remembered a previous conversation: she asked "what's that you always order?" I told her about the duck, which I had in fact ordered for that meal, and she said it wasn't that, it was noodles. I did my best to get the name across, but after a minute's confusion (in the noisy restaurant) she said "You order forme." Then the waiter came over and this woman said "She'll order for me" and pointed. So I said "She'll have the rice cake with shrimp." She seemed a little startled when it actually arrived, but picked up a noodle with her chopsticks and proceeded to enjoy herself, as far as I could tell.

I didn't realize I had that much of an aura of competence. I am competent at a variety of things, but knowing what a stranger wants to eat isn't one of them.

I hurried out with cattitude this morning (after not sleeping well) to run errands: bank and groceries. Between the two, the funeral home clock-and-thermometer told me it was almost noon, and I realized I'd skipped breakfast. Shopping on an empty stomach isn't a great idea anyhow, so I ducked into the IHOP. While I was looking at my menu, three or four waiters came over, one of them bearing a cupcake with a candle, and sang happy birthday to one of the women at the corner table.

A man at another table applauded heartily, and seconded the "Happy birthday, Carmen!" While I was eating my breakfast, the women got up to leave, and the man who had wished her happy birthday told her to wait a minute, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a stack of bills, handed her one (I think it was a twenty, but it was folded small), and wished her happy birthday again. She thanked him, asked his name, and came around the table to give him a kiss on the cheek.

(The pancakes were okay, the eggs weren't as I'd asked, and the sausages were indifferent, but the combo was more than I could eat anyhow. The bank thermometer, which I know I can't trust for temperature, had been lying about the time, as I discovered after I sat down and took out my Palm: it's still keeping Daylight Savings Time. And now I have groceries, sensible things like bread, cucumbers, and ground lamb.)