François' Quest

1

François Graham couldn't take his eyes off her. She was there....again!!
He sat at his favorite table at China Express. It was the trendiest restaurant in Kingston, Jamaica. He loved to eat alone. It allowed him to think. He loved solitude. Thoreau said, "I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude." François loved it. His friends thought that he was strange. They were always searching for 'company'. He liked his own company. If that made him strange then he loved being strange.
It would seem that this was her favorite restaurant too! He had seen her there often. She always sat near the window. Same table. Same time. Ordered the same food.
"Sorry to disturb." He sat down across from her.
She was mortified.
"Yes? Can I help?" Shoulders straight. Eyebrows raised. Head slightly forward. All in that 'question position'.
"You can help, as a matter of fact, by telling me how is it in this modern age a man is to meet a woman other than on 'Date-A-File'? I really don't think this 'on-line dating thing' works do you? I mean one-dimensional-dating is a very strange phenomenon. How can you meet someone and connect with her through cyberspace?
Although I knew a woman that made up a man's profile of that man that she wanted, to see what kind of women were attracted to that kind of man then she made a profile to fit that kind of woman. Guess what? She got the very man that she wanted! She did it mathematically, strategically, logically. There was no romance involved. A year later she had a baby with this man now they are living very happily married..." He put his index finger in the air to interrupt his own line of reasoning, "...according to her."
She laughed. She had to because he did not catch his breath once through that whole speech. She had to give him a smile for effort.
WOW! What a beautiful smile, he thought, "You know that is the first time I have seen you smile."
"How many times have you seen me?" She was still smiling, but suspiciously this time.
He rambled on for a few minutes with his cyber-dating soliloquy just to get to look at her and see her reaction to him.
"Well, quite a few! This is my favorite restaurant. I come here, a lot. So do you! So I think that we should get married!"
Still smiling. "I see. And how many children do you want to have?"
"Ten!" He said without hesitation.
She laughed again. He could spend forever trying to make her laugh. It was a beautiful sound and a beautiful sight.
"Only ten?" Eyebrows raised again!
"You see, it is very difficult these days....you know, to....meet....a lady. Most of them look at you strange when you just cross a restaurant, sit at their table, uninvited, and start talking about cyber-marriage. So how would you suggest a man meet a woman these days?"
"Hmmm, let me think." She was smiling, again! Putting her elbow in her hand tapping her mouth with her index finger pretending to look pensive.
What a beauty she was. He also noticed a sadness in her eyes. She was troubled about something. He wanted to know what that was and rid her of it.
"I think it would be best if you just sent over a couple of spring rolls to her table. You see, some of us, like solitude. It gives us time to think. I love Thoreau's line when he said, 'I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.' I love Thoreau. He is my favorite."
François thought he would die and die a happy man. He found the perfect woman for himself at his favorite restaurant.
"Could I ask the mother of my children if she has a name?"
"Lowdian Allen." She laughed. "Yes, true it might be good if you know her name so that you could ask for her at the maternity ward at Kingston General Hospital."
He was in love.
He kept saying her new name over in his mind, 'Lowdian Graham, Lowdian Graham, Lowdian Graham.'
"I'm François Graham. Ummmm..... Could I ask you out on a proper date? Please don't tell me that you are married or engaged or seeing someone else or from another planet that I don't have a visa to go to. I don't want to hear any of that."
"You are a perfect stranger! Do you think it is safe for me to go on a date with you?" Trying to look serious but for the corners of her mouth curling up.
"Here are the choices."
"Yes?"
"We could enter the restaurant together."
"And?"
".... and.....I could pull out your chair for you. Order your dinner for you. Quote all kinds of Thoreau classic lines."
"Or?" There's that smile again.
"Orrrrr........I could keep sitting at my favorite table at the back and you could keep sitting at your favorite table in the window and I can keep coming over here and disturbing you by sitting across from you and trying to make conversation." He was smiling now. "It's completely up to you to choose." Putting both hands up as if she were holding him up with a gun.
"This is a difficult one. Let's see. I might have to ask my best friend." She got immediately sad after that last sentence. A dark cloud covered her. He noticed it in a millisecond. His face got serious. Just wait. Just wait. Don't jump in to rescue her.
"Sorry." She caught herself then tried to lift the cloud.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. Yes. Fine." She lied.
He knew it.
"Umm, let's see. Where were we?" A weak smile crossed her lips. She had completely lost her train of thought. Slipped into another world for a moment.
Wait...just wait...patience. He counseled himself. He could stare at her forever. It was like massaging his eyeballs. Heavenly! She was an angel with skin!
He just smiled at her then waited. Something was terribly wrong; he could tell that he was going to have to let her tell him of her own volition.
"You know.....the 'coming in together' sounds much more inviting than being stocked by a madman." She giggled again.
He saw the cloud lift.....slightly.
"You are right." He said with a charming voice along with a smile that could melt butter.
There was something so intriguing about her. He wanted to know everything about her right now. But he was going to have to wait. That was the hardest part. He wasn't a particularly patient man. He didn't have time for patience. With mountains to climb, planets to explore; he had so many things to do in life with so little time to do them all.
Perhaps this quest was worth having patience for.
"When would you like to come through those doors with me......together.....do you think?"
"How about Saturday? Say seven o'clock?" She looked at him shyly like he was going to refuse.
The greatest fear in the human race is rejection. Men had to go through it all the time. They were the pursuers generally. Nowadays it was all mixed up. He liked to be the one that was pursuing. He was old fashioned that way. He wanted a woman that wanted to be pursued.
"That sounds great. Do you want me to pick you up? Or, would you rather meet out front at seven?"
She was still unsure of him so she thought it best, "We can meet out front."
"Great!" He didn't miss a beat.
"It was lovely to meet you. Perhaps on Saturday we could discuss the wedding, seeing that we are going to have ten children together."
There's that laugh again.
He got up from the table. Tucked in the chair, started to walk away then turned back, "Thoreau is my favorite too." He then walked back to his table to finish his meal.
A few minutes later the waiter arrived at her table with two spring rolls.
She didn't even lift her head. She just stared at the plate which invoked a smile. She knew who they came from. François was watching with a smirk on his face.
She smiled because usually a man sent a drink to a woman. This was no ordinary man. She loved the joke. She also realized that he heard everything she said. He paid attention. He was observant. She needed that.
As he sat at the back of the restaurant again, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She, on the other hand, was completely lost in her troubling thoughts. The dark cloud had returned. She hardly touched her food. She rested her chin on her hand, elbow on the table, looking vacantly and lost, out the window. Never looking at him once, for the rest of the time she was there.