Page 31 - Unlikely Stories 5

Mix and Match with Max and Mitch

From Fantastic Transactions, volume 3 (2006)

A chromed M&M logo three meters in diameter left no doubt
about the identity of the company occupying the forty-seventh floor
of Petrolius Towers. It hung on the wall behind a receptionist who
had just announced to Mitch and Max the prompt arrival of their ten
o’clock appointment.
“You may go right in, Miss Seville.”
“Which door?” The caller, an American woman in her mid-thirties,
picked up her briefcase and regarded the Chinese girl behind the
desk. Two heavily-carved portals flanked the long curved desk
adorned with gaudy simulacra of wedding-couple dolls from a dozen
dying cultures.
The receptionist rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
Barbara Seville raised her eyebrows, shrugged and went through
the door on the right. She entered a huge room no larger than most
corporate executive offices. Overstuffed chairs and sofas in bright
upholstery semicircled two large adjacent desks facing each other.
The desks were covered with electronic toys, softly flashing and
beeping. Two middle-aged men in hot pink kurta arose from their
chairs and greeted her effusively.
“Greetings, Miss Seville. I am Max.”
“And I am Mitch. Please find a place to sit.”
She sat, judiciously centering on a sofa cushion equidistant from
the men. They immediately sat down and began chuckling. She
smiled, waiting for either the beginning or punch line of a joke.
“You are wondering,” said Mitch, “why we have two doors leading
to one office.”
“It had crossed my mind,” she replied carefully.
“We are from India, you know.” Max waited for her assent. “In
every large railway station one finds a place to obtain tiffin or snacks.
And in the hallway are two doors. The sign above one reads,
‘Vegetarian Refreshment Room;’ and the sign above the other, ‘Non-
vegetarian Refreshment Room.’ And they both provide entry to the
same room.”
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