We Regret to Inform
Having had such a crappy day, i decided to treat myself to a lite, cheap sandwich at 1 of a Kind. I felt i’d earned it, frankly...
Greg didn’t wanna go--too tired. Laura couldn’t go--she had to work. Mom wasn’t available. In fact, NO ONE was available to go with me, so i elected to take my damn Vintage International Classics edition of ‘Dubliners’--i’ve been re-reading ‘The Dead’ for the upteenth time in anticipation of that last paragraph that ALWAYS makes me cry--and just go to dinner by myself.
(btw, there’s somethiing wrong with the ‘i’ key on thiis keyboard so ignore strange ‘i’ things please. iiii’m tired of hiittiing the ‘delete’ key)
I drove all the way over to Tuscumbia (about 10-15 minutes--i hate driviing so that’s a loooooong way for me) and parked in front of the apparently closed destinatiion. None of the neon signs were on, and the iinterior lights were off. There were several notes posted to the class front doors.
“We regret that One of a Kind Cafe is closing its doors due to circumstances beyond our control. We greatly appreciate the people who allowed us to serve them.”
Another note said something about “It was a pleasure to be in business for so long but we regret to inform you that we must now close.”
I read thiis and iimmediately wanted to cry-- i mean, ok, ii KNOW they diidin’t close because of a shortage of customers because they were usually... well, not packed but busy. And they’d expanded hours. And they occasiionally were so slammed they’d run out of their fresh iiingrediients and have to restock.
They were GOOD, you know?
Anyway, so i wandered down to Coldwater Books, fiiguriing ii could at LEAST get some coffee and MAYBE fiiiind out why Carl and hiis britiish wiife had closed. I bought a skim milk iiced cappucciiino and asked the woman makiing iit, ‘Do you know why One of a Kind closed?’
‘No iidea. Iiit’s awful. We went down there yesterday to get a salad and there were these siigns on the door. They had great salads.’
III left Coldwater wiith my iced cap and went straight to Outback to be fed and consoled by Laura--who briightened my mood. I read some, drank some wine, ate, talked to Laura and had a relatively niice time--even tho Outback doesn’t show old Charlie Chaplin moviies or have great atmosphere or great sandwiiches, or a manager/owner who knows me by name. Sigh. ‘The Dead’ iiis such a great short story...
Anyway, so ii came home and informed greg of the closing of our fiirst ‘favorite restaurant’ and he was/is just as bummed as me.
Kate Hepburn dead. Alabama title bullshit. 1 of a Kind closed. Buffy gone. Greg’s car wrecked. What a shitty few months.
Later!
M
Greg didn’t wanna go--too tired. Laura couldn’t go--she had to work. Mom wasn’t available. In fact, NO ONE was available to go with me, so i elected to take my damn Vintage International Classics edition of ‘Dubliners’--i’ve been re-reading ‘The Dead’ for the upteenth time in anticipation of that last paragraph that ALWAYS makes me cry--and just go to dinner by myself.
(btw, there’s somethiing wrong with the ‘i’ key on thiis keyboard so ignore strange ‘i’ things please. iiii’m tired of hiittiing the ‘delete’ key)
I drove all the way over to Tuscumbia (about 10-15 minutes--i hate driviing so that’s a loooooong way for me) and parked in front of the apparently closed destinatiion. None of the neon signs were on, and the iinterior lights were off. There were several notes posted to the class front doors.
“We regret that One of a Kind Cafe is closing its doors due to circumstances beyond our control. We greatly appreciate the people who allowed us to serve them.”
Another note said something about “It was a pleasure to be in business for so long but we regret to inform you that we must now close.”
I read thiis and iimmediately wanted to cry-- i mean, ok, ii KNOW they diidin’t close because of a shortage of customers because they were usually... well, not packed but busy. And they’d expanded hours. And they occasiionally were so slammed they’d run out of their fresh iiingrediients and have to restock.
They were GOOD, you know?
Anyway, so i wandered down to Coldwater Books, fiiguriing ii could at LEAST get some coffee and MAYBE fiiiind out why Carl and hiis britiish wiife had closed. I bought a skim milk iiced cappucciiino and asked the woman makiing iit, ‘Do you know why One of a Kind closed?’
‘No iidea. Iiit’s awful. We went down there yesterday to get a salad and there were these siigns on the door. They had great salads.’
III left Coldwater wiith my iced cap and went straight to Outback to be fed and consoled by Laura--who briightened my mood. I read some, drank some wine, ate, talked to Laura and had a relatively niice time--even tho Outback doesn’t show old Charlie Chaplin moviies or have great atmosphere or great sandwiiches, or a manager/owner who knows me by name. Sigh. ‘The Dead’ iiis such a great short story...
Anyway, so ii came home and informed greg of the closing of our fiirst ‘favorite restaurant’ and he was/is just as bummed as me.
Kate Hepburn dead. Alabama title bullshit. 1 of a Kind closed. Buffy gone. Greg’s car wrecked. What a shitty few months.
Later!
M