The Couple, The Restaurant

The young couple eat alone in a nearly empty restaurant. Their candle is the lone lit one in the old Italian place. Their breath smells of red wine and garlic.

She ordered the fettuccini alfredo, he ordered the veal parmesan. She normally wouldn’t let him eat something as barbaric as veal but it was a special occasion. It was the 2nd anniversary of their first date. Suddenly, there's a buzzing sound.

“Oh, great! Uh, would you excuse me? I have to take this phone call” he says to her, clearly annoyed.

“Oh, sure”

He runs out into the cold night air, pressing his cell phone against his ear, shouting to be heard over the traffic noise. She waits patiently inside, making a game of how long she can leave her napkin over the candle on the table before the flame dies out. After a couple of minutes, he returns.

“I’m sorry. It was my Mom”

“Oh. Is everything o.k?”

“Yeah. My Uncle just got a hernia and he’s in the hospital. It’s not that exciting”

“Is he o.k?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s fine. It’s just a hernia”

“That sounds serious to me. A hernia”

He laughs. “Are you kidding? Do you know what a hernia is? I’ve had a hernia and I lived”

She laughs in response. “You? When did you have a hernia?”

“When I was a kid. I’ve never told you the story?”

“I don’t think so”

“Oh, man. Well, when I was a kid…probably like 9 or 10 years old…I did something to piss off my Mom. Talked back to her or refused to eat my vegetables or something, right? And so my punishment was to go to turn off the TV and go to bed. Now, when I was a kid I was obsessed with television, I watched like 6 hours of it a day. So I threw a fit because I was watching a show I liked. So in defiance I decided to take the family TV into my bedroom and watch it. Well, the only problem is that our TV set was huge. One of those big wood paneled deals. It weighed a ton. So there I am, this scrawny little 9 year old trying to lift this like 100 pound TV. And it gave me a hernia. I had to go to the hospital and have surgery and everything. My Mom still teases me about it to this day”

She laughs. “I had no idea”

“And my Aunt Betty, she was worried sick. She sent me comic books and cookies like everyday. It was really sweet.”

“Did I meet her?”

“I don’t think so. Did you go with me to that family reunion last summer?”

“I think I was in Boston”

“Oh, yeah”

“I’m going to go to the restroom. Excuse me”

She gets up and goes into the bathroom, pulling her cell phone out of her purse. Once inside she makes a phone call.

“Hey. Greg? How’s it going?” she laughs at his response and continues, “I see. Well, yeah. We’re still on our big date. But what are you doing tomorrow?” Another pause. “Well, he works all day. I can do whatever. You want to come over at like 2?” Some more laughter “O.k. See you then”

She exits the restroom and returns to the table where a large piece of cheesecake waits for her. She sits down and begins to cry.