김릿 마시는 중, 기나긴 이별

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많이 걸어다닌 하루였다. 료샤랑 레냐와 함께 노바야 골란지야(New Holland) 공원에 산책하러 갔었고 돔 끄니기에도 갔었다. 둘은 료샤 아부지와 저녁 먹고 온대서 나 혼자 숙소 로비 카페에서 우하(러샤 생선수프) 먹고 김릿 한잔 마시는중. 오기 전에 다 마셔야 쿠사리 안 듣는데 ㅋㅋ



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김릿이 메뉴에서 없어져서 물어봤더니 만들어줄 수 있다 함. 일년에 한번 여기 와서만 마시는데 없으면 서운했을 뻔.. 무척 힘들던 재작년 겨울에 여기서 김릿을 마셨는데 그때 기억 때문인지 작년도 올해도 이 카페 창가에 앉아 저녁에 김릿 한잔 마시게 된다.



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물론 레이먼드 챈들러. 기나긴 이별을 생각하지 않을 수 없다. 지난번에 올렸지만 김릿과 바에 대한 문단 두개를 다시 발췌해본다. 너무나 명문이라. 김릿과 수많은 바들은 모두 챈들러에게 감사해야 함!! 나같이 술 잘 안마시는 자조차도 마시게 되자나!!



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We sat in the corner bar at Victor’s and drank gimlets. “They don’t know how to make them here,” he said. “What they call a gimlet is just some lime or lemon juice and gin with a dash of sugar and bitters. A real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s Lime Juice and nothing else. It beats martinis hollow.”



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“I like bars just after they open for the evening.  When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny and the barkeep is giving himself that last look in the mirror to see if his tie is straight and his hair is smooth.  I like the neat bottles on the bar back and the lovely shining glasses and the anticipation.  I like to watch the man mix the first one of the evening and put it down on a crisp mat and put the little folded napkin beside it.  I like to taste it slowly.  The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar – that’s wonderful.”


“I sat down two stools away and the barkeep nodded to me, but didn’t smile.
            “A gimlet,” I said.  “No bitters.”
He put the little napkin in front of me and kept looking at me.  “You know something,” he said in a pleased voice, “I heard you and your friend talking one night and I got me a bottle of that Rose’s Lime Juice.  Then you didn’t come back any more and I only opened it tonight.”
“My friend left town,” I said.  “A double if it’s all right with you.  And thanks for taking the trouble.”

He went away.  The woman in black gave me a quick glance, then looked down into her glass.  “So few people drink them around here,” she said so quietly that I didn’t realize at first that she was speaking to me.  Then she looked my way again.  She had very large dark eyes.  She had the reddest fingernails I have ever seen.  But she didn’t look like a pickup and there was no trace of come-on in her voice.  “Gimlets I mean.”
            “A fellow taught me to like them,” I said.
            “He must be English.”
            “Why?”
“The lime juice.  It’s as English as boiled fish with that awful anchovy sauce that looks as if the cook had bled into it.  That’s how they got called limeys.  The English – not the fish.”
“I thought it was more a tropical drink, hot weather stuff.  Malaya or some place like that.”
“You may be right.”  She turned away again.
The bartender set the drink in front of me.  With the lime juice it has sort of a pale greenish yellowish misty look.  I tasted it.  It was both sweet and sharp at the same time.  The woman in black watched me.  Then she lifted her own glass towards me.  We both drank.  Then I knew hers was the same drink.”



.. 레이먼드 챈들러, 기나긴 이별 ..