The other day I ended up in a take-away restaurant in Rotterdam's china-town. It was Friday-afternoon and the small-sized place was loaded. Some people were having a meal at one of the few tables available but I queued up. Finally, after ordering, I had plenty of time to look around. The crowd was as exotic as the menu. All varieties between black and white were there, united in liking this restaurant that day. Some of them enjoyed Surinam cuisine, others ordered from the Carribean or Indonesian meals. And all this food together gave a wonderful spicy aroma. It felt good, being there. People seemed happy, looking forward to leisure time in the coming weekend. This place was a colorful, bright one.
Yet, all of a sudden a dark cloud came over the place. A tall black man pushed his way through the gathered crowd. People stopped talking, everybody was staring at him. So did I. Who was this eye-catching person with a suggestion of evil around him? Was he about to rob the restaurant? Was he a blackmailer, offering so called protection to chinese community? He stood right beside me, waved with some money in his hand, and said: 'I wanna pay'. Phew!!!! The crowd started humming again, and while the waiter prepared the bill this tall guy and me looked at each other.
On his pokerface no trace of a smile, nothing at all, but..... was this really true? The man was burping!!! Little inner-burps escaped from his body in a funny way. I couldn't help it but I kept on staring at him. And then this giant showed he had a weak side too. He explained his burping to me, as if he wanted to make excuses. 'I can't help it', he said, 'I ate too much. It's the air, you know, I ate too fast, now the air must go out.' He looked a bit vulnerable. I nodded full of understanding. The restaurant listened in breathless silence. 'Of course', I said, 'this is just normal, it is good for your health.' Now he nodded, burped again, paid the bill and walked away. At the same time, evil left and the restaurant was a cheerful place again. I saw the man disappearing into Rotterdam's early evening. Who-ever he was, I liked him. My eyes had seen the little child inside of him, even the little baby-boy he once was; hanging on his mother's shoulder, caring hands patting his back, asking him to make little burps.
Please NOTE that all stories in VickxWonderWorld are under copyrigth of Vicky van der Hof.
