Captain Salopette
The morning after the strong wind like the end of the world blew, people in the town swept the leaves scattered on the sunny pavement with their brooms. At the root of ginkgo beside the pavement there was a deep dry well enough to reach the other side of the earth. The leaves, dreams and dust gathered were dropped into it. If someone fell into the well, the voice of salvation would not have reached the heaven forever. Last night's gust was a sneeze of the devil, people said so and returned to their respective lives.
A dry well filled with sunlight through the leaves of ginkgo was managed by the owner of the café. Every morning, he was wearing a salopette on the cook clothes, carefully sorting the garbage and throwing them into the well. When occasionally a nightmare was mixed in the garbage, he added — Caution:Potion — as a note with Daily Special on the menu board. His Daily Specials were cheap and delicious.
MON: salmon fish cake and paprika mayonnaise. compote de pommes.
TUE: boiled salt pork and lentils, accompanied with wild watercress. lemon sherbet.
WED: smoked duck and orange sauce with mashed potatoes. wagon wheel brownie.
THU: thickly sliced bacon steak with sauerkraut. cream cheese and blueberry sauce.
FRI: muniel of cod with boiled green peas. custarda crème caramel.
Menus of Saturday, Sunday were decided by his whims. Humming of La Vie en rose in
the kitchen was a sign that he felt so good. For a travelling show coming to town at
once a year, he had prepared candied Treble clef, made too much. The café became a
saloon of people in the small town, and a cloud of rumors with a smoke of the ladies at
the lunchtime. What drifted from between the clouds was a talk about love affairs that
blew away their boredom.
One fine day, circus came to town from the other side of the earth. The beauty in a
bikini threw herself in the dry well. A scream of fear went up from the audience. An
acrobatic elephant on the rolling ball put his long nose into the well, splashed out the
water towards the blue sky. Like an astronaut's zero gravity walk, the beauty swam at
the top of fountain freely. A scream of delight went up from the audience. The owner of
the café was very attracted to the beauty, but the circus immediately left for the next
town. In that night, the strong wind blew again. The end of the world. Ginkgo leaves,
dreams, dusts and people, all the things in the town vanished into the darkness of dry
well. The well also gone.
Well, the owner of the café wearing a salopette on the cook clothes. Actually, he found a
sparkling crystal ore from the bottom of the well, sold it to a pawnbroker at the port and
has been getting a submarine. Now, the submarine of Captain Salopette chases the
beauty reflecting upside-down to the mirror in the kaleidoscope, and may be aiming for
the other side of the earth. While humming repeatedly, La Vie en rose.
