Arnon Grunberg

Life

Silences

Altro Paradiso, Friday night around 10:30, a couple enters the restaurant, she is in her late thirties, slightly overdressed, a bit uncomfortable, he is in his late thirties, a bit underdressed.
There are awkward silences between them, she is probably more interested in him than he is in her.
It must be a first or second date.
They order two plates of pasta, and when the pasta arrives they eat very fast, as if they are in a rush. As if they want to leave the restaurant as soon as possible.
No dessert, no coffee.
Then the waiter hands them their coats, they have exactly the same coat.
Coincidence? Or where my assumptions false, and was this a longtime married couple trying to breathe some new life in their relationship?

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