Beverley George: STICKY FINGERS

Christchurch, New Zealand. At the Sticky Fingers restaurant I choose Blue Cod Waimeru and a local merlot.

There’s a Billy Joel song playing that causes me to reflect with affection on a man who once helped me through an emotionally despondent time.

A young waitress is squatting at a bottom drawer with a large tray of glasses on her knee and clinking tea-light candles into each of them. She is mouthing the words of the song. If you said goodbye to me tonight There would still be music left to write. [1]

How pleasant it is that we are enjoying the same lyrics.

She catches my eye. “It’s very early Billy Joel” she tells me. “A really old song.”

I decline dessert but wanting to finish with something sweet, order a chai latte. A modern choice, I think.

While waiting, I ask directions to the toilet.

“Through the wee door behind the preserves cabinet,” the waitress says. It could be my grandmother speaking.

At the wash basin I pass my hand under the tap-less spout. Nothing happens. A young Thai tourist gently guides my hands lower to the back of the basin.

“Sensor,” she says.

autumn leaf
green veins threading red
. . . and brown

by Beverley George
Pearl Beach, NSW, Australia

[1] Lyrics Billy Joel : For the Longest Time