"You know, the burger is the best thing we've invented since sliced bread," I explained to Jordan over our midmorning coffee.
"I have my Cantonese language advocacy volunteer meeting tonight, I can't go out. You should've asked Dennis."
"I don't get what's so important about tonight. What's the worst that's gonna happen if you ditch them for a night?"
"They'll salt the earth with their tears, and cry out 'O captain, my captain!'"
"Surely you can't be serious."
"I guess they'll do without me," Jordan said resignedly. "Swing by my office when you're done for the day."
I'd always thought of Jordan as a warm, charming person, and I was surprised to see that not reflected in his office decor. His office was sparsely decorated, with a panoramic photo of what I recognized as Hong Kong the only wall decoration—he also had a Dilbert plushie on his computer monitor and a tray of candy I didn't recognize, but that was it. There wasn't any green but the wrappers of something he tried handing me.
"It's guava. They're good," he said.
"I don't want to spoil my appetite."
"Suit yourself." He unwrapped and popped one of the guava candies in his mouth, and we left work behind.
"Do you think much about your life, Mike?" Jordan asked when we were about halfway there. I'd committed the path to muscle memory by then—I'd even started to recognize the passersby.
"I've been thinking more about it lately, now that you mention it."
"I was thinking that it's been a while since I've done this, and it seems like everyone else has done so much while I've done so little. Like I always see Heather's posts on Instagram, how one weekend she's out in Sedona and one weekend she's visiting a commune in Scotland—and it really makes me think, why am I so unadventurous? I have the money to travel now. What excuse do I have to live the same day, every day?"
"I could only imagine. So their daily special today is a grass-fed beef burger with blue cheese, pear, and arugula," I explained undeterred by Jordan's philosophizing.
"You weren't kidding about the burger thing."
"I saw the menu this morning and thought it sounded scrumptious."
We were seated at the same table I sat at with Abby and Heather, which felt predestined. At first I'd found the restaurant's bustling atmosphere disorienting, but now it felt like a blanket of white noise. I wanted to snuggle up in a corner somewhere out of everyone's way.
"I hate to break it to you, man, but I'm not feeling a burger tonight. Is there anything else that's good here?" Jordan asked.
"Beats me."
"What would you recommend here?" Jordan asked the waiter when he came by.
"If I had to pick something... I'd recommend tonight's burger. The chef just designed it only half an hour ago."
"And if we're not feeling a burger?"
"Fish and chips?"
"Sure."
"And would y'all like anything to drink? If you flip over your menu to the back side, we have mocktails, and we also have a full bar."
"This oolong-lychee infusion sounds good."
"And a regular iced tea for me," I said.
When the waiter left, Jordan looked at me with a coy smile.
"How'd you know that was today's burger? You said you saw it on the train here."
YOU ARE READING
TGIF
قصص عامةMike Burbank, fresh out of college, believes that a cheery smile and bottomless drawer of fun socks is enough to keep him going at his new career at Infinitech. While all his friends find the work soul-sucking, Mike refuses to let his neighborhood f...
