Dine and Dash

Don’t ask me why, but when I see one half of a couple taking a picture of the other, I like volunteering to take pictures of the two of them. Maybe, I miss wedding photography, maybe it’s my way of being a good-will ambassador from the States, or maybe it’s my way of doing penance for all the picture I take of strangers on the street.

But ironically, it was Julie who had volunteered to take a group photo of the foursome at the table next to us. We were on the island of Cheung Chau and were finishing up a late dinner at the sidewalk tables of an Indian restaurant. This inevitably led to a ten minutes conversation. He was from Britain teaching English. She was his Chinese girlfriend. The other two ladies were his mum and aunt visiting from the U.K. It was a pleasant conversation and we learned that he lived here on the island of Cheung Chau and took the ferry to the Hong Kong island everyday for work.

Speaking of the ferry, we had to get going, otherwise we were going to miss the 8:30 back to Hong Kong. We started to make our way through the crowded boardwalk along the harbor. We’d managed to get about fifty yards from the restaurant, when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around. That’s weird, I thought, that’s the waitress from the restaurant. I remember her bright blue shirt.

“Mister, you need to pay.”

Julie had joined the conversation. We were both horror-stricken.

If “sorry”s were nickels, we could have paid our bill with apologies by the time we got back to the restaurant. While Julie went in to pay the bill, I chatted with our British friends. They learned an American phrase: dine and dash.

So much for being a good-will ambassador and representing our country well.

We were hoping to visit this island again in the future. I guess we still can, we just can't eat at the Indian restaurant.

-Jack