One for dinner

   Ah, the glamour of business travel, manifest this time in the dinner I have scarfed at the Chinese restaurant at the Marriott Residence Inn in White Plains.  I have complied with the good traveler's rule never to eat at the hotel unless absolutely necessary only because of the absolutely necessary part, as I need to take only a quick break for fuel before getting back to my room and my work.  The food is decent -- a little plate of pickled cabbage, a small bowl of hot-and-sour soup, a plate of stir-fried shrimp and vegetables -- although I  could have done without the adjoining table of mom, dad, three very small loud and whining children, and mom's parents.   Grandad:  "Jimmy went pee-pee today for me, and showed me his big boy underpants!  High five!"  Grandmom:  "I think my lower lip went numb."  And so on.

   On the way out, I see a woman about my age sitting at a table just behind the hostess stand, across from the obligatory fish tanks.  By herself.  Another road warrior.  It should be rude of our innkeepers not to at least have suggested we sit together rather than dine alone.  It should be rude of me not to at least stop and say hello and make some small talk, rather than just leave her sitting there by herself, looking adrift and uncomfortable.  But instead, in this so-called modern world, the opposite of these things is true.