The Peacock 756

 Here we are, back at the Sunrise Diner, at tables arranged in a communal rectangle, as though we are an impromptu board meeting.  Carrie is also present and is helping her husband serve.  We have all agreed on Chinese today, and Carlos has promised he would modify some of the dishes to be vegetarian friendly.

"You say the cook is from Venezuela?" says Amanda to Sarah, who is seated across from her.  "I thought they were Chinese."

"Aaron", says Carl, and Aaron appears to have magically appeared at table with us.  "You and Jesús are both experts about Latin America.  Could one of you explain please, for our guest."

Aaron says, "There is a Chinese community in Venezuela, especially in Maracaibo, which is a large coastal city.  There are also lots of Chinese in Peru.  And the fact is, most of them speak more Spanish than Chinese.  In fact, I once knew a young Chinese Peruvian woman here in Vancouver.  We were doing language exchange.  Spanish was her first language, her English so-so, and she knew absolutely no Chinese, not Cantonese or Mandarin.  Well, I was in a Spanish class back in the day, and one of the students happened to be a Chinese Canadian, born and raised here, I think maybe third or fourth generation Canadian, spoke just English, a bit of Spanish and no Mandarin or Cantonese  So, I introduced them, we were seated together in a café and they were sharing the couch where they suddenly ended up almost in each other's arms.  A bit disconcerting, if not unpredictable."

"Why disconcerting", says Amanda.  "That's actually very romantic."

"He's almost twice her age and is married with kids.

"Well, you can't win 'em all."

"Curiously, I never saw either of them again.  She had to return right away to Peru and he never returned to the Spanish class."

"Embarrassed, I would imagine", says Sarah.  "by the way, Amanda, have you met Aaron?"

"Very pleased", she says, offering her hand to shake.  "Did you just get here?"

"Aaron has a way of popping in and out", says Carl.  "He's writing us."

"You are writing about us?" says Amanda.  

"Well, that too", says Aaron.  "I am your author"

"He's our inventor", says Jenn, laughing.  "And he pops in and out frequently to make sure we're behaving..."