My Imaginary Life 12
Shah and Jo get comfortable on the couch after their light dinner, each sitting on either end facing each other.
Jo: So where did you learn to be a chef?
Shah: Well I didn’t really learn it… well ok, I learned it of course. I mean I didn’t study it… like at a school or anything. Actually, it was my dad who taught me.
Jo: Oh wow. So it runs in the family.
Shah: Yeah, my dad actually opened his own little restaurant some years back and I was always helping him out.
Jo: Was?
Shah: He passed away last month. Had a stroke.
Jo: I’m so sorry.
Shah: Oh, no don’t be. It’s not like you gave him the stroke.
Shah laughs it off. Jo feels slightly awkward.
Shah: It’s actually why I moved here. After dad died, I wasn’t ready to run the restaurant by myself and couldn’t find anyone to help me out. So I sold it and moved to a cheaper place.
Jo: What about the rest of your family?
Shah: I’m an only child and my mom died when I was two. My dad brought me up. He always talked about my mom though. About how they met and what she was like. He loved talking about their dates and even their arguments. Hang on..
Shah gets up and goes over to a bookshelf and pulls out a photo album. He sits back in the middle of the couch and begins flipping through it. He stops at a page and points at a picture.
Shah: This is my favourite picture of my parents.
Jo scoots closer to Shah and has a closer look at the photograph. It’s an old picture of Shah’s parents. They’re at the beach. Shah’s dad is sitting cross-legged on the sand and Shah’s mum is kneeling behind him and leaning against him, her arms draped over his shoulders. They’re both laughing. It’s a candid picture.
Jo: That’s your mom?
Shah: No, it’s the tooth fairy.
Jo hits Shah hard on his shoulder.
Shah: Ow.
Jo: It’s just that she’s so beautiful…
Shah: Yeah, isn’t she? It was taken when they were on their honeymoon in the Maldives.
Jo suddenly takes a deep breath. Shah notices.
Shah: Something wrong?
Jo smiles at Shah sweetly.
Jo: Nothing. Just remembered something. Distant memories.
Shah: Yeah, I suppose that happens when looking at old photos. Well anyway, so that’s my life story. I still don’t really know anything about you.
Jo: Oh, you don’t want to hear about my boring life story.
Shah: No, I do! I mean I’m sure it’s not boring.
Jo: It is.
Shah: Really. I’d like to know more about you. You’re so mysterious right now.
Jo: Mysterious?
Shah: Yeah… it’s kinda sexy actually.
Jo laughs.
Jo: Maybe I shouldn’t tell you then.
Shah: No please. There’s no electricity, there’s plenty of time to kill, and I’m excited to hear it.
Jo: Alright. Well, let’s see… I grew up in a large fam-
Shah suddenly feigns being asleep and snores loudly. Jo grabs one of the cushions and smacks Shah in the face with it.
~~~~~~~~~
Wow… long one this time…
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 16th, 2006 at 5:07:33 pm and is filed under Scribbles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Az March 17th, 2006 at 8:28:26 am
Thank you Winda. Will try to write more for my only fan. LOL.