Begin To Question That

The first call is at seven.  That goes well enough.  The next is at eight.  I’d thought there’d be time between the two but the one goes all the way to the hour.  The next drags on as well.  During this call I’m reminded of a call I’d overlooked that will be on the half hour.  It’s a training.  I won’t be trained.  I’ll log in and let it run while I go take my shower and shave. There are people I need to pick up in town by 9:30AM. 

At lunch, one of my guests mentions that they like hot pot.  I haven’t had it for years.  Driving along Liang Ma Qiao I abruptly tell the driver to pull over.  There is a long row of restaurants.  They seem now, to be completely different restaurants form the ones I remember being here only a few years ago.  But who cares? 

We resist the temptation to enter the establishment with a human sized crayfish standing outside.  After some squinting I can discern that the next place is Korean Bar B Que.  But up ahead, sure enough, there is a lonely hotpot place with no one inside.  We take a seat and begin to order everything imaginable for this this ying-and-yang, hot and mild Chongqing hotpot we’re about to set alight. 

Not quite sure how but things turn to the Korean War during lunch.  I’m asked and I suggest that China lost as many as three-million soldiers during the war.  “Is that right?” asks my guest.  “I wouldn’t have guessed that many.”  The topic moves on but I begin to question that assertion myself.  I’m conflating that stat with something else I suspect.  Hours later, when I’m home and on line, I look up the figure and it is, in fact, reported to be much smaller:  something like one hundred to four hundred thousand.  I write my client and let him know, which had nothing to do with our primary relationship, but still seemed like the right thing to do.  Next time I’ll know.

Wednesday 6/20/18