Hot Dog

"It's easy to be a guard at a tennis game."

said the Madison Square Garden guard.

"Our main job is to keep the black scalpers out of the ticket office, and if it's a hockey or basketball game, it's hard to tell who's a scalper and who's a spectator. But it's different with tennis, where even the spectators who buy the cheapest tickets, what to say, feel classy. Also, there are very few black people watching tennis."

Tickets are divided into red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, in that order, according to price. The tickets are the same color as the seats. Let's say the farthest blue seat sees the player, which is similar to a matchstick.

My ticket was red, and it was for two people in a box called "The Lodge". The ticket was good for seven days and cost $700.

Two months ago, there was a similar tennis tournament, and I asked a friend who lives in New York to help me find tickets. At that time, he bought green tickets, and I complained to him that I came from Japan and booked such bad tickets for me. You live in New York, don't you know where the seats are for which kind of tickets?

This time, my friend booked box seats for me and said, "This time, the tickets will satisfy you."

I smiled bitterly and handed him seven hundred dollars.

This box seat for two people is the same as the VIP seats in Japanese baseball stadiums, which are usually used by companies to entertain their clients. In front of the seats were signed with names on them, next to me was Chase Bank, behind me was Payne Webb, and in front of me was New Jersey Fuji. Weber, and in front of me was the New Jersey Fuji dealership. My seat of course had my name on it, but it gave me a strange feeling to be lined up with the names of these big companies and big banks.

On the third day, as usual, when I bought a Budweiser and walked to my seat, I saw an old man dressed in black sitting there.

There were ticket checkers in the venue wearing infrared jackets and ties who would take the guests to their seats and collect the tickets. If you don't want to pay the tip and find your seat, the ticket inspector will ask the audience to show their tickets.

Chris Evert and Martina E. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova are some of the most famous people in the world. Navratilova and other famous players will be late to the game, there are still many empty seats in the arena. The old man was wearing a black dress, although his clothes were a bit wrinkled. Is it because of the old man that those ticket inspectors turned a blind eye?

"Here is my seat."

I showed the red ticket and said to the old man. The old man glanced at me and went to his seat in the front of the third row. When Martina Navratilova came on to play, the crowd grew and the old man was removed again and moved to another seat. During Martina Navratilova During Martina Navratilova's match, the old man shifted his position four times.

Chris Evert By the time Chris Evert came on, there were no seats left for the seniors. When the box seats were full, the seniors' black dresses stood out. Neither Chase Bank of America nor the New Jersey Fuji dealership had anyone wearing a black tuxedo from Zorba. Since it was spring and it was a lively women's tennis tournament, spectators were dressed up in colorful sweaters, shirts, or jackets.

The old man looked around for an empty seat when the ticket inspector approached. When the old man showed his cheapest blue ticket, the ticket inspector waved his hand as if he was shooing away a beggar.

"Do you want to sit here?"

I said to the old man as he walked past me. My friend who had arranged to come with me was distracted by work, and I was the only one in the box seat used by two people, thanking me in a hoarse voice. He was holding a paper bag from the supermarket and an umbrella with an old handle that looked ten years old.

I thought he had a love for tennis, but I found out that was not the case. Even though Chris Evert played a good game, I found out that he was not. Even if Chris Evert hit a good ball, he never clapped his hands, nor did he cheer for the other player. His face was expressionless as he watched the ball.

"Chris Evert should win. Everett should win."

Even when he heard me say that, he only moved his eyebrows a little.

Chris Evert When Chris Evert took the first set easily, the old man said, "Sorry," and stood up.

I thought he had gone home, but he came back with two hot dogs and handed one to me. I took out my wallet to pay and he shook his head at me.

The hot dogs were filled with finely chopped kohlrabi pickles and full of mustard that almost covered the ketchup.

As we ate our hot dogs and looked at each other, the old man smiled for the first time.

"How old are you?"

The old man asked me. I answered thirty-four, and he said I looked twenty-four. Then he smiled again, a pile of ketchup and mustard staining the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth.

"Japanese people look younger than their actual age," I said.

"Do you live here?"

"No, I'm here on a trip."

Hungry and unable to fill my stomach with a single hot dog, I decided to get a savory bread called Pulizzi. It was a very common bread and was being sold in small street stores. It was so dense that it felt like it was compacted into ordinary edible bread. When it was baked, coarse grains of rock salt was sprinkled on the surface.

I intended to buy two, and the old man shook his hand and refused.

"Thanks, I don't really like that one."

Thinking I was offended, he hastened to add, "That's Jewish bread."

Then he told me again, "I'm a Jew from Romania and I've lived in Marseille for ten years."

"Romania is famous for its vampires."

"I don't know, what's that?"

"It's a vampire that sucks the blood of people."

"I've never heard of that."

"I heard it seems to live in Transylvania, Romania."

"I don't know, but Romania itself is a country place."

The old man was silent for a moment, but his eyes did not follow the tennis ball.

"Which do you think is better, hot dogs or Pritz bread?"

He asked as he wiped his mouth with a paper towel.

"Pretty much the same."

"Don't you think hot dogs are especially good when you're watching a sports game?"

"And to be in the full sun."

"With a cold beer."

"Right."

"Do they have hot dogs in Japan too?"

"The American ones are better."

"I think so too."

When watching tennis and soccer matches in the sun, hot dogs suddenly transformed into irreplaceable food. It doesn't feel that way when you eat it, it's only later, away from the sun and sports, that he becomes a symbol of happiness that comes back to haunt you. It wasn't just the brain, the tongue, or the stomach, but the whole body was recalling this feeling.

"Twenty years ago, I came to America by boat from Marseille. Before that, I left my wife and went from Romania to Marseille, and while in Marseille, I lived with a Finnish woman and had a son. We came to New York as a family, and at that time, my son was eleven years old and was held by immigration for about a week. After that, we went to Yankee Stadium together once, and the three of us ate hot dogs together. You may not believe it, but that was the first time I ever ate a hot dog. The taste of the sausage, bun, ketchup, and mustard mixed in my mouth was truly wonderful. I've been driving a cab, and as soon as the finances got a little better, the three of us would go to Yankee Stadium together and eat hot dogs."

"Do you still go?" I asked. The old man said, with downcast eyes, "My wife is dead." When I asked about his son, he shook his head without saying a word. So, I stopped asking about his family.

Chris. After Everett's win, there was one more game, but the old man stood up. The supermarket bag contained cigarettes, canned fish, and toothpaste.

"I'm glad I could have a hot dog with you." The old man said as he shook hands.

"Do you like to play tennis?" I asked him finally.

Instead, the old man replied.

"No, I hate tennis. But my son does. He loves a Romanian champion named Ilya Nastase. Nastase, a Romanian champion player, and I just wanted to come and see what it was all about."

With that, the old man left the red seating area and went home.