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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 173: Takano 137
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Cooper 55
Her lunch date was waiting for her when the boss indicated it was lunch time. She picked up her duffel, made sure she had both passbooks and paychecks, and joined him.
“Why are you bringing that?” he asked.
“It’s complicated,” she said. “I guess some women carry big pocketbooks because there are a lot of things they want to have available if they need them. I carry more than that.”
That seemed to confuse him adequately, so she said, “Bank,” and picked up the pace a bit.
Depositing Uncle Brian’s check was less trouble than she anticipated, but as she filled out her own deposit ticket she gave herself an extra ten dollars for the week--Brian hadn’t kept any cash from his deposit, and if they ran short over the weekend they couldn’t do anything about it until Monday lunch.
As they left the bank, she said, “Let me guess. Luigi’s?”
Clearly disappointed, he replied. “You’ve been there.”
“Only once, and it was good pizza.”
“Well, maybe I can surprise you anyway.”
In the few blocks to the pizza parlor they established that his name was Willem but everyone called him Billy except for people who got it wrong, and her name was Tomiko but pretty much everyone called her Tommy. He had applied to work at BBS right out of high school, and apparently someone liked him because he was hired to the mailroom to help sort mail and deliver the interoffice envelopes. He figured it was a ground floor opportunity, and hoped one day to head the department. She felt like she was supposed to be impressed.
As they arrived, he walked up to the counter and ordered a panzerotti, with two plates. He asked her what she drank, and she told him, so he brought two sodas back, lemon-lime for her and something brown for him which she realized she didn’t care enough to want to know.
“So, how did you wind up here?” he asked.
“Here, or here?” she responded.
“Well, both.”
Taking a sip of her soda, and reminding herself that if she wanted more someone would have to pay for it, she said, “Well, my Uncle Brian got a job with BBS. He had met Mister Keller somewhere, and Keller was impressed by his knowledge of com--electronics, so he arranged the job. I’d been interested in the field, too, so he asked and landed me an internship with a small salary, and he found a place for us to live out here. Some of my money goes to the rent, and we split expenses like groceries and divide the chores between us. I think I’m learning some, working with the engineers. But I don’t expect to stay in Berkeley forever.”
“Where are you from?”
That was difficult.
“Oh, lots of places. Delaware, originally. My grandparents were from Japan, and my father was an engineer. But I’ve lived in quite a few places.”
The panzerotti arrived on a platter with plates, forks, and knives. It was like a deep fried pizza turnover, and Billy skillfully cut it across its width, then cut a slice.
“Pass your plate,” he said as he lifted the slice in the air with fork and knife. She had been inclined to pick up half and bite into it, but apparently that was not how they ate panzerottis out here, so she put her plate below the offered slice. He sliced another piece which he put on his own plate, and then he sliced off a bite and ate it with his fork.
How mannered, she thought. Granted, she had just spent a year living in the woods where they ate a lot of food with their hands (even she did despite having her own set of tableware), but back east pretty much if you bought it at a pizza parlor and it wasn’t macaroni you ate it with your hands.
She conformed, cutting hers in chunks and eating them one by one.
“More?” he offered, and she accepted. Between them they ate a good three-quarters of it, as he finished off the bready heel from one and cut several slices off the other. She might have eaten more, but he said, “We’d better get back to work,” and asked Luigi if he could wrap up the rest for him. Tommy downed the end of her second cup of soda and offered to pay something, but Billy refused her offer.
As they headed back to work, he said, “Maybe I could walk you home after work?”
“That’s silly. Why would you do that?”
“Well--I guess the city can be dangerous, and I could protect you.”
She had a tough time containing her laughter. He had no idea how ridiculous that was. Fortunately he continued.
“And I can see where you live, in case you want to go out again.”
Yeah, she couldn’t really argue that this wasn’t a date.
“Besides, I kinda like you.”
What had she gotten herself into?
“Well--I suppose.” She was going to have to talk to someone about this. Thing was, she didn’t know if it should be Brian or Robbie. Maybe both. She was glad to be back at work where they were in separate departments.
On the other hand, it was kind of nice that he liked her.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
