ed brown was a student of human nature and he thought his job as assistant manager and sometime counterperson at the elite delicatessen gave him good opportunities to pursue his studies.
most of the elite delicatessen’s business was takeout or delivery but there were five small tables, all within earshot of the counter, where customers could consume their orders on the premises after purchasing them at the counter. these tables were almost never all occupied at once
one of the most regular customers was a little man, who looked to be about seventy-five or eighty years old, who would take a seat at one of the tables without ordering anything at the counter. if he was asked, as he almost never was after his first few visits, he would say he was waiting for a friend.
the friend who always showed up was a tall thin woman, about the same age as the little man but better dressed. after nodding to the little man, she would order something - soup or a sandwich for each of them and tea for herself and coffee for the little man. as she never asked the little man what he wanted, either they had decided on it beforehand, or he just took whatever she ordered for him.
they never spoke while they were eating, the little man ate very slowly, and the woman would just as slowly sip her tea while waiting for him to finish.
when he was finally done, the little man would wipe his lips with his napkin, and say, thank you for buying me lunch, doris.
and the woman would reply, thank you for being my friend, draymond. then she would get up and leave.
the little man would spend five or ten minutes finishing his coffee, and then he would get up and leave.
the routine never varied.
ed brown had long range plans for writing a book about his observations, and he thought he might devote a whole chapter to speculating on the relationship between doris and draymond.
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