tut, tut, it looks like rice

The second floor of my apartment building has a dry cleaner, a minimart, and a restaurant. I like to eat in the restaurant because it's cheap, the food is tasty, and it's nice not to have to venture out on rainy nights.

I should preface this story by saying that one of the women that runs the restaurant has the cutest little three year old boy you've ever seen. He can usually be found tearing around the second floor. That's one of my favorite things about little kids; they run everywhere. They're not in a hurry - they just like going fast.

Last week, I was eating in the apartment restaurant alone, sitting just outside on this little balcony. Cute Little Boy was climbing around on a couch and some chairs. He wandered over to where I was sitting and started jabbering to me in Thai. Of course, I had no idea what he was saying. I just smiled and nodded. He pointed at my water bottle. I picked it up and pretended to drink from it. He ran away.

He ran back to my table, holding his own Winnie the Pooh sippy cup. He handed it to me. I pointed at Pooh and asked, "Who is that?" "Pooh," he said. He took it back and ran away.

He came back and started jabbering again. I nodded and said, "Uh huh. Yeah. Okay!" He ran back to the kitchen and shouted something to the woman who was cooking. I began to wonder if he was changing my order. He ran back to the table, said something to me, and ran back to the kitchen. I was getting suspicious.

A few minutes later, the lady brought out my food. It was what I had ordered, but this time, instead of the usual rounded mound of rice, my rice was molded into a bear shape! I guess he told her I wanted Pooh-shaped rice.

Now, every time I eat at the apartment restaurant, my rice is bear-shaped. And I LOVE it.