My McDonald Moments

There are countless McDonalds in the world but I probably had dined in this particular McDonald at the heart of St.Chatherine street in Montreal, more than any McDonalds in the world. I'm glad to see that it still lives there, 9 years after I have last seen it.

During a cold snowy night in 1995, I walked into this McDonald around 9pm. I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I forgot why so. As soon as I had picked up the tray with a set meal, I stumbled and fell. The coke splashed, fries strewn all over the floor. I was literally on my knees.

Maybe it was the extreme hunger. Or maybe the coldness had sucked out all the energy from my body. I lost my steps.

A black waiter quickly helped me to get up. She told me not to worry about it. Embarrassed, I didn't know what to do. Seconds later, she delivered another set to me. I probably was more overwhelmed by embarrassment than hunger by then, but I finished the whole set nonetheless, with mixed feelings. Gratitude, self-pity, and sense of depression. I didn't know how I could get through this for another 3 or 4 years.

But of course I survived. There were many happy moments too in this restaurant, and I had dined with many friends there, but oddly I couldn't remember much details of happy moments.

Most of the moments there were neither positive or negative. There were many late nights, in which I was dining there alone, after watching movies nearby. I would be sipping the cold Coke, staring out the glass into the darkness, thinking of the movies that I had just seen. I was probably smiling over a clever plot, while chewing the fries, with lots of mayonnaise.

After clearing the tray, I would put on the coat, take a deep breath, and open the door, and plunge myself into arctic coldness, and struggle to walk up a steep slope to get home.