Based on a true story…
The event in question occurred two weeks after the breakup of an 18-month affair, an engagement, and a postponed wedding.
The humiliating pun name of the restaurant was “Hung Far Low,” and the craggy peaks reference is a family in-joke.
When I worked for the bank in PR, we were told to tell reporters about the top of the then-BofA headquarters: “The irregular setbacks are reminiscent of the craggy peaks of the Sierra Nevada.” I have told my family this several hundred times, and have passed it on to dozens of tourist/friends over the years. Look up the next time you’re in SF.
Here is me singing it to my wife and daughters
The Hung Far Low.
Chinese restaurant,
Perched on Grant Street
Overlooking the building
whose irregular setbacks
are reminiscent
of the craggy peaks
of the Sierra Nevada.
Its name is a humiliating pun
Intended to attract
round-eye patrons.
Sadly,
it works.
In take a last look
At the Red and Green Mobile
Christmas Card
With Vicki’s number on it
in looping cursive.
Then I call the number.
She answers.
I say, “Come to lunch?”
She says, “Yes.”
She thinks, “Yes.”
We’re dressed for work..
We are surrounded
by tourists seeking simple pleasure.
No one else
can see the flickering flame
of two burning questions
emanating from the table
by the window.
We both had rules.
We both had been hurt.
I asked: “Is your dad still alive and still married to your mom?”
She says yes. Honestly.
She says: “I don’t date men
on the rebound.”
“Are you on the rebound?”
I say no, dishonestly.
It’s my first lie.
Also, the last lie
I will ever tell her.
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