that lined the walls of the restaurant and then slung his cape atop it so that the two outer garments appeared to be spooning. He returned to the table. The waitress arrived carrying a tray and placed two glasses on the table and then opened two green bottles of beer with no label and poured an inch or two into each glass. Then she hastened away.
The businessman emptied his bottle into the glass and waited while the man did the same. Then he lifted his glass and said, To the joys of fraternization!
The man lifted his glass against the businessman’s glass and then they both drank.
It’s nice to drink a beer with another man, isn’t it? asked the businessman, when he had placed his glass back on the table.
Yes, said the man, it is.
There are some things I only do with men. Drinking beer. Playing polo. Smoking cigars. You wouldn’t want a woman involved with any of that, would you?
No, said the man, despite his belief that gender roles were obsolete. And he neither smoked cigars nor played polo.
The waitress reappeared. She placed the fish stew in front of the businessman and the meat stew in front of the man and a plastic basket with two small loaves of bread in the middle of the table. She hastened away.
For a few moments they both ate their stew. Then the businessman picked up the basket of bread and held it toward the man.
Would you like some bread with your stew?
Yes, said the man. Thank you. He felt ashamed that he had not thought to offer the bread to his dining companion before it was offered to him. He took the slightly smaller loaf of bread from the basket. The businessman took the remaining loaf and carefully replaced the basket at the center of the table. He turned away from the table and surveyed the room, and when he saw the waitress emerge from the kitchen, he raised his arm and summoned her. She came directly to their table and stood there uncooperatively, giving no indication she had any purpose there other than gazing disdainfully at them. But the businessman seemed not to notice, or to ignore, her attitude, for he said over-emphatically, Two more beers, and a round of schnapps for us both!
The waitress departed without giving any indication she had heard or understood what the businessman had said.
I don’t want another beer, said the man. Or schnapps. I can’t get drunk!
Why can’t you?
I’m not here to get drunk, said the man.
Then what are you here for? asked the businessman.
To get a baby, said the man. To get our baby.
What do you want with a baby? Don’t tell me she’s brainwashed you?
Who?
Wifey! Back at the hotel with her vapors. Is she the one who wants a kiddie?
We both do, said the man. That’s why we’ve come here.
You poor sod. You might as well cut your balls off. Would you believe me if I told you that the moment you have a kiddie your primal life is over?
No, said the man. I think that is when your life begins. Your true life. He took another bite of his stew. He was enjoying it, but the meat had a strange flavor and texture. He tried not to remember that what is meat in one country is offal in another.
The waitress returned with their beer and schnapps and set them, unceremoniously, on the table.
Men like us were meant for finer things, the businessman said. He raised his little glass of schnapps. Let the plebs procreate and raise their litters, but let you and me enjoy the pleasures of fraternization. He reached out and petted the man’s cheek.
The man pushed his hand away. Look, he said, I don’t know what game you’re playing but I wish you’d stop. It’s become tiresome.
I’m not playing a game, said the businessman. I don’t play games.
Well, whatever it is you’re doing, please stop it. I don’t like it.
The businessman leaned back in his chair and looked at the man appraisingly, as if he were seeing him for the first time. You’ve changed, haven’t you? he asked.
No, said the man.
You have, said the businessman. You didn’t use to be like this.
I’ve never met you before! said the man. You have no idea of how I was, or who I am.
Well, in that case I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I? I’m Henk Bosma. He held out his large, fleshy hand. It stayed there a moment, hovering above the table, before the