the meal

She will take notice of me and smile. A mild, a very mild smile. She indeed takes notice of me, she smiles. A sign took my attention - sopa: alho francés, peixe: bacalhau a gomessa, carne: frango de garil - and now I take hers. She points one of the tables. Any table unoccupied may do. She points the one next to the mirror. Do I want to sit in front of a mirror? She points the other one. As far away from the mirror as possible? Well, there's only those two tables available: (a) mirror (in front of mirror), (b) no mirror (not in front of mirror). Is it possible to sit in front of a mirror while struggling with a. What is it called again? The frango de garil. Is it what? No. Of course not. Impossible. This reveals a reduction as simple and gentle as one and one is three. Looking for the glasses, as soon as (b) is conceived, and now proceeding to the act of waiting untill she again takes notice of me, I consider, for a moment without the intention to go through the reading she offered, if I go for the fish or, adding as neutral as possible the other of both hypothetical possibilities, the. What is it called again? The frango de garil. Hence the many possibilities of what a frango de garil would be and on top of that two more possibilities: (a) ask her, (b) don't. Two more costumers enter the dining room and, as no choice is left to consider (a) or (b), take seats in front of the mirror. Then indeed she again takes notice of me. Fish. I order the fish. No fish, she says. She waves both hands. Fish no. They have. What is it called again? The frango de garil. Less hypothetical than it used to be. Resume. Proceed to further considerations. Consider the meat, consider the fish, codfish boiled, codfish grilled or in whatever way it has been served. At a nearby table seven locals are each of them focused on the plate in front of them. One has a dish with frites and egg on top of it. Not making it more difficult than it should be, unnecessary even to think of making it more impossible than it should be, I order the soup. And a beer. And the fried egg. And frites with it. And her smile all along it, a mild, a very mild smile. Shrimps? she asks. With or without the shrimps, that's as good a question as any other. With. It began with the fish and. What is it called again? The unshaven behind of a what? / / She opens a bottle of Bock pils and pours it gently in a glass. Look at this. Bread is added, in addition a round piece of cheese manufactured by Miguel Frade da Silva, specimen L-4513 it reads, and butter is added. Then the soup. French soup it said. Or, if I may say so, looking now at a thick, orange mass of what could be mashed pumpkin or mashed carrot or a mix of both, something in a more or less general way conceived as the thing it is said to be? May I suggest, without making it any more difficult than it should be, that this thick, orange mass of mashed pumpkin or mashed carrot or whatever it may be, is or at least looks far less French than. What is it called again? The unshaven behind of a what? Eusébio died and these people, look at them, talk on nothing else but food. A tiny little fly inspects the bottle. Expecting what, if I may ask so? Inspector Shrump. Don't touch the bread, Shrump. It does. One and one made three. It inspects the bread, it inspects the cheese, cheese manufactured by Miguel Frade da Silva, specimen L-4513 it reads on the paper attached to it, a paper with the image of a sheep on it, obviously the female shape. On a nearby table two glasses of Porto get served. The Russian couple in front of the mirror. Or, the couple from Warschau. Sitting next to the lookalikes inside. Porto got served and nothing more radical than joy radiates from their faces. Meanwhile I have been looking at the bottle of ketchup in front of me. I had no intention at all to touch it. The female, Russian, Servian or Polish, is a luxurious blonde. He is. What is it called again? The masculin type. They have finished the soup. A second plate gets served. She ordered the shrimp, he a steak or something. He first examines the plate with shrimps, sticks a fork in it. An olive, black and ovoid, jumps from the plate, gets to the floor. They both look at it.