Ramen-3

August 5, 2012

The following day the guy came to the ramen restaurant for the third time and sat at the counter in front of the cook, the same as the last 2 times.
The cook recognized him and said. "I'm glad you came again." The guy said, "I had to say something today." The cook said, "You look serious today. You don't need to be serious for just eating ramen." The guy didn't laugh and said. "To tell the truth I am a cook." The cook didn't seem surprised by this.
The guy continued:
"I am a French cook. I studied hard in France and worked for a French restaurant there. But I had to return to Japan because of my wife. She has been suffering from a serious sickness so I needed to take care of her. I wanted to make good food for her.
Actually my wife has always preferred ramen more than French cuisine. In the old days I had made ramen for her many

times and she said every time it was good. But as her sickness got worse she began to avoid eating my ramen, claiming my ramen was strange. Recently she gave up eating my ramen and just said thank you with a sad face. I know her sense of taste somehow had changed but I thought if I could make the ramen you make, she might eat it. She is dying. "
The guy laughed weakly. The cook was about to say something but said nothing.
Soon after the guy finished talking, a couple of women came in the restaurant and sat next to the guy at the counter. The middle aged woman of the couple looked at the guy and said. "I know you. I met you last month at the match making party. How was the woman you were talking so earnestly with? Are you dating now?" When the cook looked, he only saw the guy's back leave out the door and quickly disappear. Only the women's laughing voices and the money on the counter were left in the restaurant.
(To be continued...)