Love at a Food Stand
Timothy Dodd
Each weekday they met at the bottom of the university’s steps around half past three, except on Tuesdays when they met at noon. When her classes finished, he’d arrive most days from his job at Andok’s. Some days they would stand there for a few minutes, smiling and petting and talking. Some days they’d head right off in a jeepney. But some days they’d stop and get a snack and juice at my street corner stand. At first they didn’t interest me any more than the other customers. Why should they? Young lovers might give you a momentary dream or a recollection of your own past love, but the more you observe them the more disillusioning, even annoying, they become. Antonio seemed to have a new hairstyle almost every day. I assume it pleased her. They tell me now you can just use this gel to fix it however you want. Most of the time he’d have on his Andok’s uniform: lemon polo shirt tucked in black pants. If not, he’d show up in sneakers, jeans and those popular t-shirts young people wear—I don’t know the names. But he walked with a slight limp, the deformity of an in-turned foot. 43
