FAKE STANDARDS

Nothing I eat has any taste

11 AM. He's always there. At table six.  His belly bigger than I remembered. His moustache still white. "Anyhow, are you okay?" He asked. I told him I was and that I was hungry. I ate fast and had a coffee and a bottle of wine.  After lunch I went home and slept a little because I had too much wine.

I woke up late and missed the tram. I worked the rest of the afternoon from the office. It was hot at the office. When I got out I felt content and walked down the Scheldt along the quay. The sky and the river were green.

A yellow tugboat chugged north. A man walked next to me. We both stopped and stared at the river and watched the boat beating the waves. "It’d be great to be working on a tugboat." The man said. "Yeah. It'd be nice." "Be out on the river. Every morning. All day."

I walked home because I was hungry and I wanted to make dinner. Sweet potatoes and beans.