Old Habits

Old Habits

A middle-aged couple enters the dining room for breakfast. He walks to the left and sits. She waits for the hostess who seats her in what used to be the smoking section. He reads the menu from beginning to end, orders coffee and pancakes and opens his newspaper. She orders coffee, wistfully recalls the lost pleasure of smoking, opens her book of Chekhov stories, and reads.
He reads his newspaper and converses with the man at the next table. She reads her book. Finally, he goes to her table, takes her by the arm and they leave.
The hostess shrugs.