Joshua is currently based in the states and for a few weeks
he was in the beautiful city of Madrid.
He was there on a business visit. He went there at the
beginning of December and was in for nasty surprise when he reached his hotel.
His flight was delayed by more than three hours and there
was no hotel cab waiting for him outside the airport. So, taking a cab he
reached his hotel and there he found out that his reservation had been booked
for the next day. So that night he didn’t have any reservation and out of the
two rooms available in the hotel, one was the Presidential suite and other one
was duplex room and both of them were priced at nearly about $70 and other one
at $250. Without wasting a minute he booked the duplex room at $70 per night. But the night held a big twist for him yet.
The hotel’s restobar was closed for renovation.
So, in the chilly weather he had to go in search of a restaurant as the flight
meal was already digested and were transformed into energy which he was nearly
exhausted all for.
He took a cab and after half an hour he found a place which
looked decent enough. He went inside that restaurant and the menu card was
presented to him was in Spanish.
He told the waitress-“an English menu card please.”
The waitress replied-“No English menu, por favour.”
Joshua simply started gazing down the menu card and the end
of the menu card he stuck gold.
In big letters there was written-“Arroz Con Pollo”.
Joshua to the waitress-“Uno arroz con pollo, por favour.”
The waitress-“Si, senor”.
Joshua said that he felt like a small boy in an adventure
book.
To be able to order food in Spanish and that without knowing the basics of the language was a task which he had successfully accomplished. The food and menu cards in restaurants are so complicated now a days that even great connoisseurs find themselves in a jimbo when they visit such restaurants. The whole act of “hmm, hmm, ha, ha” is superfluous. Beneath the act and layer of being a connoisseur, they are as same and confused as the common man.
The “arroz con pollo” came soon enough and Joshua gobbled
down the dish so fast that he didn’t see his childhood friend standing right in
front of him. When he looked up he saw that a man who was the chef was standing
in front.
The man spoke-“So, Joshua, you still owe me $10.”
Joshua was befuddled. How did the man know his name? The chef seeing his perplexed eyes, removed his chef’s hat and sat down just opposite to him. Joshua slowly realized that he was looking at his childhood friend Dominique with whom he used to play football and one day to buy a gift for his sister, he had borrowed $10 from him, but Dominique was ten years older than him, but they used to play together as they all lived in the same housing block.
Joshua-“ Oh Lord Jesus! Dominique is it you ?”
Dominique-“Yes, the old Dominique.”
Saying so he hugged Joshua very tightly.
Joshua-“ What are you doing here?”
Dominique-“I own this damn restaurant.”
Joshua looked around and said-“You own this place?”
Dominique-“Yes and that fine plate of “arroz con pollo” was made by my own sweet hands.”
Joshua-“You are a chef too?”
Dominique-“Not only a chef, my title is chief chef-Dominique”,
pointing to his name and title printed on his chef’s shirt.
Joshua-“Chief chef?”
Dominique-“ Yes, my friend Josy.”
Joshua-“Don’t call me Josy. I ain’t a boy anymore.”
Dominique-“ Josy, Josy, little Josy.”
Joshua-“ I will break your nose, if you call me Josy anymore.”
Dominique-“I would like to see you try, seeing that you are
still like a nascent kid to me, I think you would barely be able to move your
hand upto my nose and you still owe me ten bucks.”
Joshua-“ Are you truly Dominique?”
Dominique-“No, I am his ghost.”
Joshua-“ Here are you ten dollars.”
Dominique-“ Thanks a lot. Now, what are you doing in Madrid?”
Joshua-“I am on official business tour.”
Dominique-“ Where are you staying?”
Joshua told him the hotel’s name.
Dominique-“ Well from now on you are my guest and the
Presidential suite is for you for as long as you want.”
Joshua-“What are you saying?”
Dominique-“I own that hotel too.It was my father’s. Now I
have expanded it. So you are my guest and tomorrow you shall come to my house
for dinner and meet your sister in law.”
Joshua-“Who is she?”
Dominique-“ You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Joshua-“ I definitely would.”
Dominique-“Susan.”
Joshua-“What you married Susan? She was completely against
you.”
Dominique-“Yep. But be very careful.She is now a mother of two boys and both of them are notoriously hardened pranksters.”
Joshua had started yawning, so Dominique-“Alright, now you
go and have some rest and tomorrow we shall meet again my friend.”
Joshua –“Yes we definitely shall. But Susan? Will she meet me?
After all, we haven’t met and spoken with each other for more than fifteen
years.”
Dominique-“Ah! She still loves you. It’s her father whom she
still is angry about. That old man had brewed up a family somewhere else and
didn’t spend a dime to help her or her mother.”
Joshua-“So, that’s why she married you.”
Dominique-“Yes, I was her knight in distress. She wanted to
study ahead. I knew my family in Spain could help her become a doctor, so I asked
her to marry me and both of us came to Madrid and she is now a Cardiologist.
But she doesn’t practice because our two brats give her a lot of trouble. One
is aged four and the other is aged about seven and both of them are experts at
bunking school. They have gone after me. You shall see. If they don’t play any
serious prank on you, I will give you $100.
Joshua-“Lord help us.”
Dominique-“I too pray to him and that is the reason why I go
home late.”
They went on reminiscing about their old days and after an
hour Dominique dropped Joshua at his hotel and went home to his family.
Adios!
Before You Travel. 