Beef Jerky at Midnight 真夜中のビーフジャーキー

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

 

On a weekday afternoon, I was in the office, talking with a colleague of mine. He loves steak, in particular, grilled beef steak.

As always, he was passionately telling me about his favorite steak restaurants. It was nearly 1 p.m. I had many things to do in the afternoon, but he kept talking. I glanced at my phone pretending to check the time and, when looking up, found surprisingly a slice of raw beef on his right palm. He said with a broad grin, "This is the best beef I've ever had. You should try this!!"

The meat just appeared literally out of nowhere. Where was he holding it? Then, he disappeared. After that, I only recall him coming back shortly, holding something in his right hand, and saying with a grin again, "Eat this."

It was grilled medium-rare, which made me wonder again how he could cook it in such a short time and where?? But I wasn't given time to think because he told me again to eat it. He was persistent. I couldn't say anything, just grabbing and put it into my mouth.

What am I chewing? It's like tasteless beef jerky! I felt his eagerness to hear something good about "what he was calling the best steak," but couldn't speak because no matter how many times I chewed it, it didn't get soft. I couldn't swallow it. It was still in my mouth with no taste... I had to keep chewing it over and over again........ until I woke up, realizing that I'd been dreaming and chewing my silicone mouth guard for anti teeth grinding.....

ある日の午後、ステーキ好きな同僚のK氏が職場で肉を差し出してきました。そして「絶対に食べるべきだ」と言って聞かない｡｡。断ることもできず一切れ口にしたまではいいのですが噛めない！ というか、ビーフジャーキーを固くしたみたいで噛み切れない、飲み込めない、しかも味がない｡｡。仕方なくずっとくちゃくちゃしながら「これ何？ ステーキじゃないじゃん、味のないジャーキーじゃん！！」と叫んたところで目が覚めました。歯ぎしり用のマウスピースを噛んでいました。ウソのような本当の話です。