Altered Man

My wife and me were doing some shopping one day, and took a break in a coffee shop.

We sat there in the smoking area (We both smoke you see) minding our own business when this older lady approached us and asked me to light a cigarette for her which I did. My wife and this lady started a conversation about you know everything and nothing.

After 5 minutes standing talking, she sat down next to my wife and I got the feeling this is going to take some time. It looked if she was a sweet lady; I decided to call her husband over to have a chat with him.

I called him by waving to him and pointing to our table but he ignored me point flat. I thought maybe he does not understand, so I got up and walked to his table and smiled at him and asked if he wanted to come and join us at our table.

While I was asking he looked intently towards his wife as to get her attention. When his wife looked at him, he pointed to me with a question mark on his face. He wife waved to him, and he started to get up and stared at his wife again and while she was talking to my wife, she waved again at him to come closer. He eventually walked to wards our table and stopped next to his wife.

I shuffled a chair backwards, to let him sit in between me and my wife but he kept standing there. It really looked like he was waiting for permission to sit down. Eventually his wife said, “For Pete sake Henry”, “Sit down!” And Henry sat down, not on the chair I pulled out for him but right next to his wife.

I felt a bit sorry for him and at the same time I felt curious, why was he acting like he was lost or scared? I started talking to him and he said; “sorry”? And while his wife was talking to my wife she turned and said: “Henry! The man is talking to you”, and gave him a kick in the ribs with her elbow and pointed to me.

I tried to repeat what I said before but it came out like “Do you eat?” stupid me, of course he eats, I mean he is alive is he? I rephrased and asked him “Do you like to eat? I mean do you like food? I mean particular food?. At least he answered and said “I like big steaks with baked potatoes and lots of gravy”.  His wife turned to him in a flash and said “Henry you know that you do not eat steak and you do not like baked potatoes, and you know what the doctor said about eating red meat, it is not good for you.

She said to me, “You see, Henry does not know what he likes, that is why I take care of everything, isn’t true Henry? Henry said “Yes dear”! He was looking intensely to me as he wanted some sort of support so I said, “I am sure Henry here, knows exactly what he likes, don’t you Henry?” He nodded with his head and smiled a feint smile at me. I said to him, “I like cooking occasionally but I cook only from recipes as I have no cooking clue about cooking, at the back of my hand I said, “That is what my wife keeps telling me”. As the conversation progressed, he relaxed visually and occasionally participated in our chat. His wife kept a hawk’s eye on him all the time.

When I asked him if he and his wife wanted some more coffee, his wife immediately said “Henry only drinks one cup of coffee because it is bad for his stomach but I have one" and took another cigarette from my wife’s packet. I ordered more coffee for us except for Henry.

I tried to pick up the conversation with Henry again and asked, what he was doing in life and if he still worked. Henry said “No I am retired but I used to work as chief engineer at KLM for 18 years". "Whoa!" I said, “KLM that is the Dutch airliner, I know because my wife and I are from Holland”. "That must have been an interesting job"!

To have a topic for Henry to discuss, opened him up more and for some time we talked about airplane repairs and refurbishing older airplanes, very interesting. He in fact was quite amusing and an animated talker. I found out that he travelled a lot for his work and visited many countries.
One of the countries he visited most was Thailand and said he fell in love with it. I asked him what was his most amazing thing in his career and he answered: " For years I have been carrying my heavy luggage around the world. Just before I went on pension, somebody put wheels on them and all of a sudden the luggage was not heavy anymore. I ask myself every day. Why haven't they do this any sooner?

His wife never interrupted but started to talk to my wife louder and louder as to prevent anybody to hear what he had to say and suddenly in the middle of Henry’s sentence his wife said to him, “Henry we must go" and stood up nearly knocking her chair over. As an excuse she said “Henry has to take his pills and I don’t want to get late at home. The rude interruption was complete and Henry stiffed up like he expected to be hit. His face became expressionless and slowly stood up.

He did not say good bye nor did his wife. As we watched them leave he shuffled behind his wife, arms hanging along his side, his head lowered as an altered man.  

To honor Henry, I have a Thai recipe strait from the streets of Bangkok.

You need:

4 chicken breasts pre cooked.
2 tbsp soy sauce.
3 tbsp olive oil.
2 cloves garlic chopped fine.
2 tsp grated ginger.
½ cup mushrooms sliced.
3 spring onions sliced.
450 gram (1lb) wheat noodles.
2 cups bean sprout.s
½ cup basil leaves roughly torn.
1 tbsp hot chilli sauce or to taste

To make the stir-fry sauce:

In a small bowl or cup, combine 2 tbsp. fish sauce, 3 tbsp. of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp. lime juice, 2 tsp soft brown sugar and 2 tsp. corn flour dissolved in 1/2 cup of water.
Stir mix all until the sugar dissolves and set aside.

The Chicken:

Combine the chicken and soy sauce in a medium bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry the garlic and ginger for a minute.

Turn up the heat and add the pre cooked chicken breasts and chilli sauce and stir-fry for about 3 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and spring onions with about 2 tbsp. of water and stir fry for a further 2 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked. Add another splash of water if the pan is drying out to much.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the prepared sauce and the noodles. gently stir with two wooden spoons until everything is combined well and the noodles are cooked.

Add the beansprouts and basil leaves and stir through. Turn off the heat after 3 minutes.

Serve.