One Honest Word

(The kitchen of a small restaurant in Porto, twenty minutes before dinner. Marta the cook gives Ruben a spoon.)

Marta: You’re the new waiter, so you taste everything on the menu. Soup, chicken, cheese.

Ruben: The beer too?

Marta: No. Start with the soup.

Ruben: Mm. Delicious.

Marta: Delicious isn’t an answer. Say what’s in it.

Ruben: Tomato. Salt. It’s… delicious.

Marta: Now the chicken.

Ruben: Also delicious.

(Marta puts down her spoon.)

Marta: Ruben, in twenty minutes I’m cooking sixty meals. Give me one honest word.

Ruben: Okay. The chicken’s dry.

(Marta says nothing.)

Ruben: Sorry.

Marta: Don’t be sorry. That’s the word. Say it to me, and never to them.