Life as an afterthought

Chapter 5, page 9.

            The bored-looking waitress came back, carrying a tray with their tea. Junko, laughing half-heartedly at the last part of his remark, watched his hands opening the pot full of hot water. He stared into it with puzzlement on his face, fondled the tea server, and then touched on the empty cup. She poured the hot water into her tea server, watched him follow her example, and knew he was not telling the truth when he said he liked tea. She wondered if it was just the sign of him spending too much time in Japan already, starting to pick up the annoying habit of ordering what everybody else was ordering.

              “Do you have everything you have ordered?”

              The waitress asked in a monotone voice every waitress would sooner or later employ when citing something from the manual. They both said yes. The waitress walked away.

              “Actually,” David said watching the tea server impatiently as the leaves quietly floated around in the tea server, “it’s not that difficult to get by in Tokyo.”

              “It’s not?”

              “No, at least not on a daily basis, like going to the convenience store and buying what you need? Or ordering things in shops and restaurants. They always say the exact same thing. You know the way that lady just said ‘do you have everything you have ordered?’”

              Junko smiled.    “They always say that in restaurants.”

              “And in the exact same way. That won’t happen in the States. Or any other Western country, I guess. People will deviate a bit from the manual. That’s normal for us. Here it’s important to stick to the rules. Down to the smallest details. But that’s good for me, at least. Less things to worry about when I’m trying to buy something.”