He invited her to the dinner.
Same restaurant.
Not intentionally at first.
Then deliberately once someone realized.
The private room had been renovated.
New furniture.
Different orchids.
Same windows.
Lake Michigan beyond.
The retired chairman laughed when he saw the room.
“Should we place one hundred thousand dollars on the table for nostalgia?”
The interpreter groaned.
“Please don’t.”
His granddaughter sat beside him.
Now an attorney.
She asked:
“Is this the exact room?”
“Yes.”
The interpreter looked toward where she had stood.
The table was a different shape.
Memory did not care.
The retired chairman became thoughtful.
“I owe you an apology.”
She frowned.
“For what?”
“I enjoyed the moment.”
“What moment?”
“When you answered him.”
She smiled.
“So did I.”
“Yes.”
“But I had power.”
“I could have stopped the wager before you had to respond.”
The interpreter considered.
“You didn’t know where it was going.”
“I knew enough.”
He looked older suddenly.
“I told myself I was letting you handle yourself.”
“Maybe I was.”
“Maybe I also wanted to see his face.”
She laughed.
“Both can be true.”
He nodded.
“That is generous.”
“No.”
“It is accurate.”
She looked around.
“Would I have wanted you to interrupt?”
The question surprised her.
She thought.
“At twenty-seven?”
“No.”
“I would have hated it.”
“At fifty-eight?”
She smiled.
“Maybe.”
They laughed.
The chairman lifted his glass.
“To changing answers.”
She raised hers.
“To asking again.”
Near the end of that dinner, a young waitress entered.
Black American.
Maybe twenty-two.
She poured coffee.
The retired chairman’s granddaughter asked about dessert.
The waitress answered.
Then one elderly guest made an innocent comment about a Chinese phrase on the menu.
The young waitress responded in Mandarin.
Not fluently.
Comfortably.
The interpreter looked up.
The girl smiled.
“I’m studying.”
“What?”
“Mandarin.”
“At college.”
The interpreter’s chest tightened.
“What year?”
“Senior.”
“Planning to use it?”
“Hopefully foreign service.”
The retired chairman looked toward the interpreter.
She knew what he was thinking.
History trying too hard to become symbolic.
She gave him a warning look.
Do not.
He smiled and stayed quiet.
Good.
The young waitress left.
The interpreter sat back.