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Dear Readers,
The Editor is a huge fan of Chinese cuisine. Everything on the menu is fair game. But though I love it all, the best part of the meal comes last, when the fabled fortune cookie arrives.
Yesterday, anticipating the long-awaited moment, I downed the hot tea, egg roll and cashew chicken with fried rice on the side in record time.
My cookie duly placed in front of me, I reached for my fate-of-the-day with trembling hands.
Cracking the fragile pastry with a skill acquired from long practice I eagerly took out the crumpled bit of paper, which mockingly leered...
4-14-35-7-21-56
Stunned by the apparent rebuff I was at first crushed with disappointment.
But wait!
Suddenly remembering that the fortune part was on the opposite side, I quickly flipped the bit of parchment over and found a cryptic message:
1. Pick up the nearest book you see.
2. Turn to page 45.
3. The first sentence will foretell your
luck with love in the coming year.
The only book readily available being a book of matches, I quickly jumped up and hurried to a waiting taxi, neatly forgetting my customary tip.
Arriving at home in record time
(thanks to a generous bribe for the Cabby) I frantically rushed to my vast library. Breathless and still in a dither, the countless stacks glared at me haughtily in contemptuous silence.
Which book should it be? I mused.
Then I remembered... it had to be the
NEAREST that I saw.
I picked up the thick volume of Byron's Complete Works, turned to page 45 as instructed and slowly looked downward to find my fate with love. The words screamed derisively as they proclaimed...
Chapter VII
What a major disappointment!
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Editor's Comments:
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After tossing and turning all night,
The Editor returned to his fickle library at 3 o'clock in the morning for another try.
This time, with only a candle to see row upon row of volumes, I reached blindly and came up with, of all things, a Chinese cook book.
I suppose it could happen I nervously thought.
With gritted teeth, I opened the tome to page 45, which gleefully shouted in no uncertain terms...
Beef with Broccoli 牛肉与西兰花
Sigh... oh well...
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