Ramen-2

July 29, 2012

The guy came to the ramen restaurant the next day. He sat down in front of the cook who he had talked with the day before and ordered the ramen.
The cook soon recognized him and said nonchalantly. "Oh, you came here two days in a row. You must be a ramen freak. By the way how was the water?" The guy smiled bitterly and said.　"Oh, that was good. It was the best water I've drunk in years. " The cook laughed. "You have a good sense of taste. You could be a good ramen chef." The guy smiled bitterly again and said. "By the way you look young, but you've already got a delicious style of ramen and a good business. It's really surprising to me."
The cook said, "I don't think so. Business is a hard thing. Even if you are

on top today, you may be second tomorrow and a few months later you might be out of business." "Wow. You are the cooking economy professor, aren't you?" the guy said. The cook laughed again and said, "An economist can't make good ramen but a cook can make ramen and talk about his ramen business. I hate critics. They just criticize. Once they get information from us, they tell it as if they got the tip by themselves. They are thieves."
The guy said with a serious face, "You are right. I can really understand what you said." He ate the rest of the ramen and paid the money and left the restaurant. Then he went to the back of the restaurant and found a garbage box. He opened the lid and checked inside. There was only garbage which was chicken bones, onion skins, carrot ends, celery leaves, an empty bottle of the major brand of soy sauce which the cook had shown him yesterday. He thought, "Was he really telling the truth?"
From the gap of the door of the backyard of the restaurant, the cook was watching him.
(To be continued...)