Madrid, 1967.
A Casa de Comidas.
It is her first time outside
the USA,
this American young lady
who enters.
Her eyes are caught by one particular scene.
A cloth-covered-table.
A bottle of wine.
A copa.
A pitcher of water.
(And) a plate holding a filete and a pile of potato chips.
Behind all this sits a suited man.
The American pays attention
to this gentleman's behavior:
to his etiquette:
to his eating habits: because
he's eating the potato chips with great precision and astounding
co-ordination.
He carefully pushes each chip one by one onto the back-side of his fork
and then carries it
balancingly
to his mouth:
which opens
just in time
to receive the whole crunchy item in one fell swoop,
(and) then
snaps down
and chews
determinedly.
Once in a while he stops to
carefully
cut
a piece of meat
and fork it
into his mouth,
(left-handed).

She wonders
how she will ever
acquire
the specialised skill required
to successfully execute
this chip(ped)
etiquette.

.

© 2002 Marjorie Kanter
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