Arnon Grunberg

Birthday

Shoeless

An upscale hotel bar in Zurich.
A lady is in conversation with a bearded man. He is wearing a suit; she is shoeless and a bit tipsy.
The man, a bit younger than the lady mentions his wife, then he starts guessing the age of the lady next to him. He says: “39.”
It is 46, tomorrow is her birthday.
He is in his early thirties.
Within 20 minutes he comes up with a more or less indecent proposal.
She answers: “I’m not that kind of woman.” And: “Are you kidding me?”
Ten minutes later he says: “I’ll bring you to your hotel, I’ll order a taxi.”
She giggles.
He leaves the bar, he comes back. The conversation continues, but sex is in the air.
A doorman enters the bar. The taxi has arrived. Lady and bearded man leave the bar, she is still without shoes and he needs to give her an arm, she is so tipsy that walking has become an uphill battle.
Less than one minute later the bearded man makes one more appearance. He tells the barman: “Put the bill on my room.”
Then he disappears, at least for this evening.

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