Reading The Return of the Elephant 11

The next morning, Ger Ger sprung out of bed, again, for fear that the kitchen staff might close the breakfast buffet at exactly the scheduled time, which the concierge told her would be 11am.

She entered the dining hall of the restaurant which appeared like a battlefield at the end of a battle – almost all tables were either occupied by humans or dirty dishes. Luckily, she found an unoccupied table.

At the next table sat a man who was busy typing on his laptop. By her estimate, he would have to accumulate the dirty dishes around him for a month in order for them to stack up as high as him. She wondered why the waitress did not clear some of those dishes off his table, and at the same time, she also wondered why the man could be so unperturbed by the sight of those dishes.

At the buffet table, she discovered that little food remained. She scraped the bottom of the buffet trays for what’s left.

While eating, she found the only waitress in the restaurant clearing the tables as well as the buffet trays. It was 10.10am.

The only interaction between Ger Ger and the waitress was, “Sorry, sorry,” when Ger Ger was standing in her way.

While the waitress busied herself, Ger Ger quickly grabbed a second round of what’s left at the buffet before it was completely cleared. She needed a big breakfast to prepare herself for the long day ahead – going to Tallinn.