photo: tes at home
The neon sign foretold exotic pleasures — tea, an egg roll, happiness, a house — and walking through the doorway only bolstered the illusion. Red-felted billiards tables, sunny glass two-tops, dudes with headphones chilling. Sweeping my eyes across the long sideways menu dotted with small color photographs of the hundred beverages for sale, I knew I was in for a treat. Coconut Black Milk, Honey Dew Green Milk, Taro & Tapioca, Lemon Dream, Green Angel, Green Barley with Passionfruit, Kumquat Dream, Cinderella, Coconut Lychee Nectar.
But the dumplings, when they finally arrived, were still icy inside, and the egg rolls were overly oily. My pineapple slurpy never made it to the table by the time we’d finished our meal, and judging by the backup of paper chits tucked into the long silver blade at the beginning of the fruit bar, I figured it’d be another ten minutes at least. Tree of Life was starting, and I didn’t want to miss the beginning, so I decided to abandon my slurpy.
On the way out I locked eyes with a woman at the end of the fruit bar, waiting patiently for her beverage. I should have told her she was welcome to my pineapple slurpy when it came down the line. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be surprised by a free pineapple slurpy from out of nowhere? But the idea didn’t dawn on me until halfway through the film.