Suspicious Object Tales: No Lapse

“…and those are our specials,” said Orit, our waitress at one of the local Sushi restaurants we were trying out for the first time.

When she finished I looked at CB (my wife) amazed.

“Wow, are you a Mossad agent?” I asked Orit.

I mean how could she remember all those options in such detail and in English.

“No, I just say them over 1000 times every night,” she replied.

Fair enough.

I ended up ordering the chicken tempura and my wife asked for sushi. Originally I also wanted sushi but opted out after seeing one of the chicken dishes pass by on the way to another customer.

Then, as we were waiting to be served, Lori, a friend of CB’s showed up with the news.

“There’s a chefetz chashud (suspisious object) outside and they’ve closed off the street,” she said describing one of those cool little tank-like robots about to check out a bag if it contained a bomb.

CB hadn’t seen one before and went to have a look with her friend while I waited to be served.

When our dinner arrived and she hadn’t returned I was in a bit of a quandary; tired and hungry. Momentarily staring at the food I began.

I tried eating slowly but my cravings took over: one piece, another, gobble, gobble, gobble.

Still, in my chicken ecstasy I wasn’t oblivious to the potentially dangerous situation outside.

Just that morning while running to the bus I was stopped by a policeman who blocked traffic at a major intersection. That little robotic tank everyone is so fond of was investigating the scene there too.

Once the robot determined the bag not to be a threat traffic resumed but took a while too loosen up. Just as I arrived at the  bus stop I caught a glimpse of the security official controlling the robot walking it back to his van.

He escorted it like a favorite donkey, a pair who’ve been together through thick and thin…

When CB returned and started on her sushi she began telling me all about Mr robot around the corner.

“It’s really cool what they do,” she said grabbing some chop sticks. “They have this arm that comes out and picks up the bag dumping all the contents on the ground.”

How they save lives is pretty amazing. So is how Israelis live with such threats…

“How’s the sushi?” I asked.

“Yum,” she said. “How’s your chicken?”

“Not bad,” I answered contemplating the moment.

Sushi, chicken, lovely couple, suspicious objects and cunning robots; It was still a peaceful evening, thank God.

Nothing changed. No lapse. Everything was completely as it should be, kind of.