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The Guest Who Summons
Two fingers raised over a hotel wine list can be remarkably persistent. The guest holds them there while his companion finishes a story, without looking up from his choice of wine. The gesture is economical. It allows him to request another person’s attention without visibly withdrawing any of his own.
The waiter is carrying three plates to a table beside the window. If the guest were looking, he would see this. His companion can see it perfectly well and continues speaking, although she has shortened the story. The waiting fingers are now a small obstruction between them. The difficulty is that this guest may be excellent company. He could know which wine is worth ordering, remember the companion’s birthday and have made a considerable effort to arrange the evening. The gesture does not have to reveal a secret villain. It may reveal the boundary of his courtesy, which is a less convenient discovery for someone who enjoys his company.
A guest who says “please” can still assume that whatever happens beyond his table is available to be interrupted. He might be sincerely puzzled if this were described as impatience. He has waited. His hand has been raised for some time. He regards his restraint as one of the services he is contributing to dinner.
His companion need not rebuke him. She might ask whether the waiter has noticed, thereby making the gesture a shared problem. She might touch his wrist, which would look affectionate from across the room and feel corrective to him. Or she might simply stop speaking. That would oblige him to discover whom he has been listening to for the last minute. Each choice changes their evening in a different way.
Meanwhile, the room has been conducting other business. A man is waiting for service. The waiter has an unfinished task. A companion is considering whether she wants another glass. None of them is necessarily studying the person leaving by the side door. Later, each might be quite certain about the departure because they remember the pause it caused. The waiter saw a coat. The guest heard a door. The companion looked towards the corridor after the figure had gone. Their confidence can agree while their observations do not.
None of these witnesses needs to have been drunk or forgetful. Each has been paying careful attention, which is inconvenient when somebody later asks about a different matter. The companion’s embarrassment may have been the most consequential event at the table for her. A later investigator should not be allowed to insist that she ought to have been watching a stranger instead.
There is also the service side of the room. The waiter knows which guest is likely to complain, which table needs clearing and who has asked for a taxi. That knowledge can make his account unusually precise. It can also be used against him: someone who needs to leave unnoticed might choose the moment when he is expected to attend to the raised hand. Courtesy, or its absence, has become part of the available cover.
Eventually the guest lowers his fingers. His companion is putting her napkin beside the plate. He asks whether she has finished, meaning the meal, and she takes a moment before answering. The waiter comes back with the wine bottle. It has already been opened.