Tales from the Trail #25: The Friend in every Enemy …
I was still in good spirits on this particular afternoon, smilingly walk-limping through northern Indianapolis along Michigan Road, and I eventually made it to the “What The Pho” Vietnamese restaurant (about 5 miles from the far northern edge of town). And I was in truth pretty tired when I arrived there, so I simply did what I normally did whenever fatigue &/or overheating set in – namely, walked in the front door, introduced myself with a smile, briefly explained what I was doing, and asked if it was OK to get a glass of water and rest there for a few minutes. And as was also par for my current course, the owner of that establishment (Kenny) did indeed allow me to come inside to drink some cool water and rest there in the place’s cool confines. And yet what was not usual at all was what happened thereafter. For after I had sat there awhile I rose to leave, thanking Kenny warmly as I was doing so. And yet instead of receiving my thanks and letting me head back out to The Road, Kenny smiled warmly at me and told me to sit back down and rest some more. Confused, and thinking we had run into a simple language barrier, I again explained that I was leaving and that I was grateful for his hospitality, at which point he smiled again and explained to me that I needed to sit back down and rest some more. And so that is what I did, and only a few minutes after doing so Kenny came out from the kitchen with a large smile on his face an even larger to-go order of chicken fried rice for me …
I was shocked at the gesture of goodwill, no doubt, and yet was also a little concerned as to how Kenny was going to react when I politely informed him that I don’t eat any of my animal friends at all, and therefore couldn’t properly receive or enjoy his gracious gift. Thankfully he was not perturbed in the slightest, but instead told me to sit tight where I was for a few minutes more while he had the chef cook me up some vegan fried rice instead (!!!) … And this is exactly what he did, with the chef himself (Alan) then coming out from the kitchen as well to smilingly watch me eat the same. And then it was that I was surprised once more when I opened up the second to-go bag* and saw a $20 bill resting on top of my lunch! Alan & Kenny then were the ones destined to be surprised, when I vehemently (and politely, of course) tried to refuse the same. At this point our language barrier did indeed prevent me from being able to effectively explain why it was that I could not accept or in any way use their monetary gift, and they proceeded to become more & more agitated at my refusal of the same (“It is so good what you are doing. You have blessed us by stopping here, so now we get to bless you in return”). And so it was that I did indeed appear to accept their money at that time, and then gratefully sat with them at the very front of their restaurant and reveled in the delicious meal they had cooked for me – all while Alan looked on in utter satisfaction. Later, as I was just finishing up that same scrumptious meal, Alan returned to the kitchen and Kenny was distracted by some new customers who had just arrived, giving me the perfect opportunity to subtly slip their $20 gift underneath the spicy-sauce station on my table. I then quickly rose, gave them the heartfelt thank you note I had written for their selfless graciousness, thanked them both profusely for their kindness, and fluidly made my way out the door and onward up The Road.
*Kenny had told me that I could take the food with me if I wanted, but that they would prefer it if I would honor them by having a seat at one of their tables and eating their gift in house.
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