AcmeShorts

“Table for 2 please”

My brother and I followed the short Japanese Waitor though the Sushi Restaurant. He sat us in a booth near the washroom and left two menus on the table.

Seconds later a woman clad in the traditional all-you-can-eat sushi apron (green plaid with a nicely embroidered duck in the center) approached the table. In a quiet, efficient manner she placed chop sticks, a soy sauce dish and a napkin in front of each of us. We ordered a pot of green tea.

“Green tea,” she acknowledged, shuffling off.

Neither of us glanced at the menu.

The Waiter returned for our order.

“Ready to order?” he asked in a thick Japanese accent.

It was my brother who spoke first. “We’d like one million pieces of salmon sushi.”

The waiter looked up from his order pad at my brother and then at me.

”Ready to order?” he asked again, this time, a slight tremble was present in his tone.

“We’d like one million pieces of salmon sushi,” I confirmed.

“One Million?” the waiter asked. Beads of sweat slipped down his forehead. His eyes jerked from our table to the sushi bar.

“Yes” my brother responded.

The waiters face began to tremor and turn red.

“One million?!"

He grew more excited and fearful with each passing second.

"But that’s impossible. No one can order one million salmon sush-”

At that moment the waiters head exploded and somewhere in the distance a scantily clad Japanese man rang a gong.