I think he remembers us...

7pm
the city abuzz with life
rushing about at the end of the day
students and commuters on their way
or maybe the movies
where to for dinner?

“It’s open! It’s open!”
I took a peek into the little Chinese take away.
China Express or Chi-but as our friends fondly named
7 years its been there now, maybe longer…

“ You wanna eat there? You sure?”

I nodded excitedly.
O the thought of crunching into the honey chicken
and perspiring from the chilli burning the tips of my tongue
lures me as I drag my geek one into the shop.

The familiar face of the uncle pops from behind the
hot bar… he smiles…a friendly one in my opinion.
A short man, he still had his usual jet black hair and little moustache
a polo shirt over his small frame,
cooking up a storm over his huge frying wok.
Come to think of it, he looks a bit like an asian version of ‘Luigi’
from the Mario brothers…. Heheheh but with a wok not a vacuum cleaner:)

I know a similar thought is running through both our minds
At that point, ‘…. Does he recognize us?’
Haven’t been in there for… cant remember the last time we ate there…
Working in the city actually repels us from dining in the city it seems.

Memories of this little take away come flooding
With our first friends we knew in Melbourne we would come
Between classes for lunch
Fried rice small with 2 side dishes…
It was the cheapest and mind you, tasty too!
$4.80 from memory a plate it’ll cost.
My geek one used to go there almost everyday
With his back pack and sloppy sandals
That was before we started going out.
He would even go in alone… he liked his independence
(aka lonliness? Hahaha)

It was funny to learn from him that he was surprised
that one day, the uncle smiled at him when he started to bring a girl
in with him for lunch… (the girl was me… I guess )
almost like a ‘ha!-Not-eating-alone-any-more-geeky-boy?’ smile…
and so I soon learnt it was one of his fav places for lunch of course.
I’d order the small and he the large. I’ll eat half and
He can have my other half.. : )
So in all he was able to down large and a half…

7 years and counting… and to think we ate there after
So long yesterday… this time husband and wife…

We bid him goodbye when we left and
My! Was I surprised! what a big smile he gave us! :)