The Benz Man
It's a black, shiny, low-slung Merecedes-Benz S600 with dark windows and sleek, ever-so-comfortable-looking upholstery. The owner is also expensively upholstered, from head to toe, in shiny black - possibly to match his motor, but probably to hide a middle-age waistline. He is also low-slung, short and squat, his chassis low to the ground. He looks as if he would take corners well. No problems in the ice, nor in high winds.
The Benz man lives in a crappy house, in vehicular terms the equivalent of a Skoda, circa 1985. In addition to this property, he has just lucked out in the public housing lottery and has moved his wife and daughters into a small prefectural run apartment. This housing is a step down even from the Skoda. I don't know why they moved. There's no divorce in the air - they all get on famously. Maybe he just needs more space. But for what?
The Benz man works in construction, or to be exact, destruction. He knocks down buildings for a living. He shouldn't really be driving a Mercedes-Benz S600, tinted windows or no tinted windows.
The other day a local teacher and I saw the Benz man. The teacher asked him about his wheels.
"Nanbo (How much)?" he asked.
Benz man replied, quick as a flash, that the teacher could have it for 5 million yen cash. The teacher laughed and said he wasn't in the market for a car. His eco-friendly Prius would do him just fine; and he had just added alloy wheels to "supe it up" a bit.
Benz man smiled, well, more of a smirk really, and said,
"Is that so?"
The teacher's a persistent bloke, though, and none too sensitive to the subtleties of body language. He's not a man to give up easily.
"When you bought it - nanbo?" he persevered.
Benz man eyed him for a moment, figured he couldn't be arsed with a half-hour conversation with the local maths-meister, and spat out,
"13 million new".
Our eyes widened. The teacher recovered his poise first,
"You been doing something bad?"
There was a gleam in Benz man's eyes. He gave a knowing, slow-motion, cartoon nod of the head. He might as well have winked. Then he smiled a smile as wide and squat as his S600, slipped into drive, and effortlessly purred off into the night.
The Benz man lives in a crappy house, in vehicular terms the equivalent of a Skoda, circa 1985. In addition to this property, he has just lucked out in the public housing lottery and has moved his wife and daughters into a small prefectural run apartment. This housing is a step down even from the Skoda. I don't know why they moved. There's no divorce in the air - they all get on famously. Maybe he just needs more space. But for what?
The Benz man works in construction, or to be exact, destruction. He knocks down buildings for a living. He shouldn't really be driving a Mercedes-Benz S600, tinted windows or no tinted windows.
The other day a local teacher and I saw the Benz man. The teacher asked him about his wheels.
"Nanbo (How much)?" he asked.
Benz man replied, quick as a flash, that the teacher could have it for 5 million yen cash. The teacher laughed and said he wasn't in the market for a car. His eco-friendly Prius would do him just fine; and he had just added alloy wheels to "supe it up" a bit.
Benz man smiled, well, more of a smirk really, and said,
"Is that so?"
The teacher's a persistent bloke, though, and none too sensitive to the subtleties of body language. He's not a man to give up easily.
"When you bought it - nanbo?" he persevered.
Benz man eyed him for a moment, figured he couldn't be arsed with a half-hour conversation with the local maths-meister, and spat out,
"13 million new".
Our eyes widened. The teacher recovered his poise first,
"You been doing something bad?"
There was a gleam in Benz man's eyes. He gave a knowing, slow-motion, cartoon nod of the head. He might as well have winked. Then he smiled a smile as wide and squat as his S600, slipped into drive, and effortlessly purred off into the night.
posted by jh at 29.5.06
2 Comments:
Liked that one JH. Can very much picture the Benz man.
There are a few of them around, aren't there!
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