

"Once upon a time in China, some believe around the year one double-aught three, the head priest of the White Lotus Clan, Pai Mei, was walking down the road, contemplating whatever it is that a man of Pai Mei's infinite power contemplates which is another way of saying "who knows?" when a Shaolin monk appeared, traveling in the opposite direction. Less than two months after he'd crossed paths with the Penguin, a night janitor found the chef in a bus station restroom. And then the chef, who was a recovering alcoholic, woke one morning to find that a 24-hour liquor store had opened across the street from his apartment. The park where he liked to sit and read was annexed and bulldozed. The church he attended was closed for fumigation, after a bizarre infestation of killer bees. The day after that, a new tenant moved in next door and began blasting their stereo at all hours of the day and night. And the day after losing his job, the chef found that his girlfriend had been suddenly deported to Romania, and his best friend arrested for child pornography, despite his insistence that he was framed. But a few days later, that building had a new owner, and the restaurant was forced to close, its employees all fired. And so they ate their dinner, and enjoyed their evening, and the Penguin never said a word about the chef who'd laughed. Maybe there was nothing malicious about it at all. Maybe he just happened to think of something funny, some joke he'd heard the other day, while glancing around the room. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the chef laughed while looking in the Penguin's direction.
