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------- ------- ------- ------- ------- My favorite Chinese lunch truck is Lee Toy’s, just behind the University Library. There’s always a line at noon, but today it was worse than usual. Instead of steely-eyed grandma, a good-looking girl was taking orders. A strand of hair was plastered to her forehead, and she looked harried. ------- “Chicken and broccoli,” I said when I got to the window. “Are you Lee Toy?” ------- “Lee Toy Glandfather,” she said. “Three dollah, plees. You wan spicey?” ------- As I carried the hefty Styrofoam box back to my room, the aroma began to get to me. A pound of hot Chinese can be pretty sensual. ------- The next day I waited until after the lunch crowd. ------- “You new here?” I asked. ------- “Down from Syracuse for fall break,” she said. No accent. ------- “Yeah? What are you studying?” ------- “Anthropological linguistics.” ------- “No kidding,” I said. “I’m majoring in anthro, too. I’m taking Chinese next year.” ------- “Uh huh.” She didn’t believe me. ------- “Really,” I said. “I’m interested in Taiwan.” ------- “That’s where I’m from.” She looked friendlier. ------- “Hey, great,” I said. “Maybe we can talk. Want to get a cup of coffee sometime?” ------- “Thanks, but my life is complicated enough. You eating today?” ------- “Kung Pao chicken on steamed rice. Say, what’s the other Lee Toy truck about, the one over by the Med School?” ------- “That jerk! He stole my grandfather’s name. His stuff’s crap.” ------- “Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” I agreed. “But he lets you pick out your own fortune cookies. Listen, what if I get rid of him for you, would you go out with me then?” ------- “You crazy?” ------- “No,” I said. “I just mean if I could get him to move on, maybe over to Franklin College.” ------- “He’s not going anywhere. That spot’s worth a couple thousand a day. You don’t want to mess with those guys.” ------- “Okay. It was just a thought.” ------- I didn’t see her again until the week before Christmas. In the meantime, I’d become a regular customer of the other Lee Toy, one of the few he had left by the time he moved on. We talked about his troubles, the mysterious drop off in business, and he let me take as many fortune cookies as I wanted. I took them all, eventually, and replaced them with my own. -------“How’s it going, Syracuse?” I said. ------- “Not bad. Made the Dean’s List. Grandma’s happy.” ------- “Hey, that’s great! Listen, I’ve been waiting to tell you. I did it! Lee Toy II is history.” ------- “You’re kidding?” ------- “Nope. Come on, I’ll show you.” ------- There was a brief interchange with grandma, and she threw on a denim shirt and came with me. She’d let down her hair. She was shorter than I expected, but that was dumb. I’d only seen her up in the truck. She smelled like five-spice powder. She was a beauty. I kept hoping we’d bump into some of my friends. ------- “You didn’t believe me, did you?” I said. We were looking at a Lee Toy sized space. “He’s over at Franklin.” ------- She shook her head. “What did you do?” ------- “You don’t want to know,” I said. ------- She was waiting for me that evening. She must have gone to the gym and changed, because her hair was wet, and she had on a really cool leather jacket. ------- “You look nice,” I said. -------“You can tell us apart?” -------“I’d know you anywhere,” I said. “A little prickly, aren’t you?” -------“Sorry. There’s something about being Chinese in a Chinese lunch truck that puts me on the offensive.” -------“I guess so,” I said. “Starbucks?” -------“Mocha latte!” -------We had a couple more dates before she went back to school. We email almost every day, and she’s coming down for spring break. I finally threw out the extra cookies. They were getting stale, and it’s probably not a good idea to hang onto half a box of fortune cookies that all say, “Die, Yankee Pig!” ------- 7 August 07 ------- |