The King of Food.

Today was a thirteen hour work day, so I stopped for chinese on the way home. Figured that given the choice between deep-fried tofu and whatever-the-fuck-is-unwrapped-in-the-pantry-possibly-then-covered-in-vanilla-yogurt-and-Hershey's-chocolate-syrup, the tofu was the better choice. Albeit the more expensive one.

I always go to the same place, I've gone there for years. At one point, my relationship with my local Chinese restauranteurs was such that I didn't even have to order. I would walk in, sit down and watch the Discovery Channel documentary they would always have playing while the nice old man who looks an awful lot like a duck would start to make my food. There was no point in asking me. He knew what I wanted.

A year and a half spent in Canada put a bit of a damper on my relationship with Duck. He doesn't remember me. At least, not as the old me. I've been stopping in there now about once a week after I've closed at the lab. Usually, they're starting to close but I go ahead and order anyway, but tonight I was a little self-conscious, for some reason. I asked him if they were still open and Duck said, 'FOR YOU ANYTHING. YOU WANT BEAN CURD SZECHUAN STYLE?'.

So I ordered, and sat down to watch the documentary they had playing tonight. A couple of things: The TV sits on top of the buffet they use for the lunch crowd. Tonight, they seemed to be watching [now, this is a guess...there was no sound] a show about maggots. Completely grossed out by simultaneously watching those greasy little things wiggle around on moldy tree bark and smelling my food cooking, I was hypnotized. A little to the left of the TV there were terribly bright, dusty-looking fake plants everywhere. Second best moment of my Food King experience: I noticed that from between the fake plants, a picture frame peeked out. It was a glass frame and there are two smiling people hugging. The man was kissing the woman's cheek. Her shoulder was right above the bar code because the picture came with the fucking frame.

My food was done. Duck winked at me to let me know. As I walked up to the counter to pay, Duck shouted [because he shouts EVERYTHING] 'I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG'. I told him it was okay. Three, maybe four times. Then. Duck stops, looks me straight in the eye and says 'YOU SURE IT'S OKAY? BECAUSE IF YOU SAY NO I KILL MYSELF'

True story.
I love the Food King.