He folded his arms and sat back deep in his chair, looking inscrutable. If that expression was meant to convey a particular meaning, it was lost on me. The guy’s expression-forming genes must have worn through in places.

“Are you married?” he asked, out of nowhere.

I nodded.

“Kids?”

“No.”

“I’ve got a son,” he said. “He’s four now and goes to nursery school.”

End of conversation about children. We sat there, silent. I put a cigarette to my lips and he offered his lighter. A natural gesture. I generally don’t like other people lighting my cigarettes or pouring my drinks, but this time I hardly paid any mind. In fact, it was a while before I even realized he’d lit my cigarette.

“What line of work you in?”

“Business,” I said.

His mouth fell open and the word formed a second or two later. “Business?”

“Yeah. Nothing much to speak of.” I let it slide.

He nodded and left it at that. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk about work. I just didn’t feel like starting in on what promised to be another escapade. I was tired, and I didn’t even know the guy’s name.

“That surprises me. You in business. I wouldn’t have figured you for a businessman.”

I smiled.

“Used to be that all you did was read books,” he went on, with a bit of mystery.

“Well, I still read a lot.” I forced a laugh.

“Encyclopedias?”

“Encyclopedias?”

“Sure, you got an encyclopedia?”

“No.” I shook my head, not comprehending.

“You don’t read encyclopedias?”

“Maybe if there’s one around,” I said. Of course, in the place I was living there wouldn’t be any room to have one around.

“Actually, I sell encyclopedias,” he said.

Oh, boy, an encyclopedia salesman. Half my curiosity about the guy immediately drained away. I took a sip of my now-lukewarm coffee and quietly set the cup back on its saucer.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind having a set,” I said, “but unfortunately, I don’t have the money. No money at all. I’m only just now beginning to pay off my loans.”

“Whoa there!” he said, shaking his head. “I’m not trying to sell you any encyclopedia or anything. Me, I may be broke, but I’m not that hard up. And anyway, the truth is, I don’t have to try to sell to Japanese. It’s part of the deal I have.”

“Don’t have to sell to Japanese?”

“Right, I specialize in Chinese. I only sell encyclopedias to Chinese. I go through the Tokyo directory picking out Chinese names. I make a list, then go through the list one by one. I don’t know who dreamed this scam up, but why not? Seems to work, saleswise. I ring the doorbell, I say, Ni hao, I hand them my card. After that, I’m in.”