toa-chan and the blue cup

toa-chan was there, and i was the only witness. she put a blue cup on the counter and told me not to move it because it was holding the room down. i asked which room. she said this one, and then she went behind the napkin holder.

i stayed by the register. the cup had a crack from the rim to the bottom, but it was not leaking. i corrected myself and called it a line. then the line got longer. it reached the sugar packets, crossed the receipt printer, and stopped at big dave's elbow while he was counting straws.

there were 212 straws.

big dave looked at the cup. "is that yours?" he asked.

"it belongs to the room," i said.

toa-chan came back holding a spoon and put it inside the cup. the crack moved. i corrected myself again and called it a mark. the mark went around the cup once and met itself behind the handle. toa-chan nodded like this was a good repair.

i tried to throw it out. the trash can made the same crack up its side. i tried the recycling bin. it had the cup already, blue and dry, sitting under a cardboard lid. i put that one on the counter and toa-chan picked up the first one. now there were two cups and one spoon, which is too much equipment for a room that sells soup.

she left with the spoon. the cup stayed. i kept saying it was a line, because a crack would mean i had been right the first time. the blue cup is still holding the room down.