Читать книгу America for Beginners - Leah Franqui - Страница 18

After escorting Rebecca out of the building, Ronnie had decided to take a trip to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing to make an offering thanking the gods for her agreement and the end of his worries over this whole mess. In order to reach the temple, Ronnie had to take the 7 train out to its final stop and then walk for thirty minutes, which was thirty minutes more than Ronnie was accustomed to walking on any given day. The idea of this much exercise made his heart hurt in anticipation, but he was determined to do it, because the gods had answered his prayers.

Smelling soy sauce and rotting garbage in the air, he girded himself for the journey as the train pulled into the final stop on Flushing’s Main Street. As he walked up the stairs of the subway his knees creaked in protest, but he refused to listen to them, keeping his divine mission on his mind. Emerging into the sun, however, Ronnie was distracted by the lusciously spicy smells coming from a noodle house on Roosevelt Avenue. His stomach growling, he realized that in the anticipation of his interview with Rebecca he had forgotten to eat. This was an indication of the toll this issue had taken on Ronnie’s life, as the concept of forgetting to eat was an utterly foreign one to him.

The smells around him made his mouth drip with saliva. He looked at the many food shops and restaurants. All the writing was in Chinese and he could not tell what would be the best lunch possible. He decided to go where the people seemed the happiest, and soon sat down in front of a small cup of weakly brewed tea at the Happy Frog Noodle Café. Ronnie settled in for a large lunch as compensation for his stress. To order, he simply started pointing at other people’s meals, which the waiter correctly interpreted as desire, and he was delivered plate after plate of pork. He ate them with mingled glee and wonder, for the meat still felt like a novelty to Ronnie after his childhood in a country of halal butchers.