Porshe (Feb25)

Rocky Master opposite Evernew Book Store on North Bridge. Evernew sits between Singapore National Library and the Net place up on the veranda beneath the HDB housing block. Textbooks, fiction, bargain boxes, China paraphernalia—Mao and his crew kept behind glass, fetching quite high prices.
         Rocky on Seah corner opposite, paying rental for a site immediately adjacent Raffles Hotel. A fit for Raffles neighbour - kinda French/NY patisserie, where, like the plants in the boxes over in the library forecourt, the leaves likely to get good, regular wiping by the mobile cleaning teams.
         The trade name was patented, menu makes that clear. Otherwise there might be such Rockies mushrooming all over the island. Everyone getting into the act, disreputable operators along with the rest of the wannabe crowd. Rocky the classy brawler; the Buddhist teacher joined in a powerful union. An inspiration capable of drawing crowds from the pavement.
         Biz types lingering at the adjacent table after a late lunch. Spurts of conversation from around the table. Enlarged voices rise when an additional venture was offered from a new quarter. 

         Not easy to keep the ball rolling. The group see too much of each other at work; perhaps they don't know one another. 

         They kick it along well enough, passing the ball between themselves, doing their best. 

         The high point arrives after some lesser exchanges, some uninspired footwork and forced giggles. 

         The thigh-slapping, raucous laughter when it comes booms under the alcove and overruns the noise of the buses and other traffic. 

         Ho-Ho-Ho. That was a good one. What a blast.
         None of the five—no, six; one woman hidden amongst them—feels able to offer anything further after an anecdote like that. A stinging silence following such accomplished hi-jinks. A fitting riposte after such riotous fun defeats every last one of them.
         It was the grey-haired white guy in the striped shirt who delivered it to the table. In his corner seat he sits helplessly with the rest of them afterward, craning his neck up toward the roof, unable to help them extricate themselves. Not really his role now, but no one else can manage.
         Clearly the elder in the group, guest in fact. 

         Was there an element of politeness in the response? Man didn't seem to be the boss/manager.
         A porsche involved in his gag somehow; pronounced in the German way, although the man himself was English. 

         Other lunches and drinks he has joined at Raffles next door, where an expertly delivered story from his store has enlivened the gatherings. 

         Last weekend the manager of an auto dealership here had taken out a Ferrari late night and smashed it up in the red-light district. All the guys would have seen the reports.
         Excel came up subsequently; sales of some problematic kind. Certain prevailing conditions make that a tough article to move right now. Something like that.
         Middle-aged gathering, the Pom on a steeper slope than the rest. Families at home all of them. Cost of living high in Singapore, especially given the level of expectation.
         A sizeable reservoir of warmth evident in the woman at the farewell not long after the Porsche story. After a series of lulls, from one quarter of the table had come a Let's go, which instantly provided relief to all. 

         The men much more perfunctory in their farewelling. In the case of the buck-toothed, horse-faced woman, a bright, rich charm flows out. 

         The two beneficiaries receive her swelling, lingering adieu stooping a little, gathering it to themselves. The shaded corner at the edge of the awning over the pavement was charged with the woman’s warm outflow. How much she drew up for them from her deep well of feeling.
         Everywhere these people provide reminders of former ways, biz. types often included. Many were from humble stock; still new to the caper.