I just took my lunch at Ranch*1, home of "The Best Grilled Chicken Sandwich on Earth." Aside from this being a remarkably bold claim to make, Ranch*1 is a fairly humble chain of restaurants decorated in a very cheery yellow. I decided on the Grilled Chicken Teriyake Rice Bowl Meal, as I have had my fill of sandwiches (no matter how good they are) over the past few weeks of lunchdays.
I took my tray to their Upstairs Seating Area, situated myself with my satchel beside me, my food in front of me, my Coke just beside that, and my book (Faulker's "Absalom, Absalom!") capping everything off on the far side of my food, to better facilitate my eating/reading duet. Imagine my surprise when I look up from arranging things to realize that the people sitting at the table just in front of me are, in fact, the same people who were sitting at the table in front of me at Burger King (Whopper with mayo/ketchup/pickles only) just yesterday.
Now, I understand that coincidence is a pretty powerful thing, but this is two different restaurants at different times of the day, and the exact same seating relationship between us. I started to worry for a minute that they might notice and recognize me, and then think that perthaps I was stalking them. The man and the woman, both in pleasant business attire, were fairly cuddly for the duration of both meals, and perhaps they thought I was a private detective, there to follow them to a mid-day assignation and report back to a jealous spouse.
On further reflection, however, I think I discovered what was truly happening. As I am perfectly aware that I was definitely not spying on them, clearly the couple was spying on ME. For what nefarious purpose, I am not certain. The fact remains, however, that I am being tailed. I think on my way home from work I will have to stop at several unrelated stores all over the city, in an effort to, if not lose my sneaky tail, at least make their report confusing enough so as to be worthless to whomever is trying to establish my daily routine. So far all it can really describe is my penchant for fast food restaurants, Faulker, and the musical stylings of Messer Chups, so I feel fairly safe.