How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

Harold sits across from three-time divorcee Yvette, studying the menu which promises to reproduce famous or favorite meals on request. Harold comments on the potential for inaccuracy in recreating such meals but Yvette dismisses this and tells him to “be impulsive for once” (241). A busty hostess approaches with a contract for Harold to sign. The contract demands that Harold not discuss the restaurant with anyone he isn’t going to invite as a guest. Harold hems and haws but finally signs.

Skeptical of the restaurant’s claim that they can reproduce any meal given only date, location, and reason for occasion, Harold orders the meal his ex-wife made on the night he proposed to her, certain that it will be impossible to produce without even a mention of the contents. To his great astonishment they perfectly reproduce the meal, causing his mind to fill with happy memories of his ex-wife.

Harold then asks to see the kitchen or the chef, but he is denied both. Yvette tells him to leave a good thing alone but the desire to know overwhelms him. He excuses himself to the restroom in hopes of sneaking into the kitchen, all the while knowing that he is causing a riff in Yvette’s trust.