It's been a strange Saturday. The weather is gorgeous - sunny with temps in the mid 70's - and you couldn't ask for a prettier day. But it's just been a strange day.
Mom and I headed out at about 10:00 this morning in search of antique stores. She has two Eastlake antique chairs, circa the late 1800's, that she wants to sell. Instead of us hauling these chairs around all over the city, we did the smart thing and took pictures of them to show the antique dealers. So armed with out pictures, we headed out to Bardstown Road in the Highlands, in hopes of getting rid of these chairs. The first strike of the day came when each of the antique dealers we talked to said they weren't interested. They are pretty chairs, they said, but Victorian chairs aren't a big seller in antique stores right now. Plus, one very kind dealer took the time to explain to us that, in her professional opinion, they had been reupholstered. She said that this would be the stumbling block in selling them, as most antique dealers would want the chairs with their original fabric. I was discouraged, but Mom reasoned that "It's just not meant for me to sell these chairs right now." We stopped in a very cool coffee shop and got a good strong cup of coffee before we embarked on the next leg of our journey.
On the way to the antique stores, we passed by a neighborhood that was having their weekly farmer's market sale. So on our way back down Bardstown Road, we decided to stop by and see if they had any plants or flowers for sale. We parked the car down the block from the sale, and when we got there, there were only about 3 vendors still set up. Strike two.
Not being one to dwell on the negative, Mom said she'd buy us lunch on the way home. I suggested Frisch's. They have a good selection on their menu, so Mom wouldn't have any trouble finding something that was diabetes-friendly. I got the usual - a Big Boy and a cherry Coke. (Let me add that it was a real cherry Coke - a fountain Coke with lots of cherry syrup.) Mom saw on the Senior Citizen portion of the menu that they had a special today of liver and onions, one of her favorites. She happily ordered that, along with a cup of soup for the side dish. (Attn: make note of the soup; it will come into play later on in this story.) They brought her soup along with our drinks, and she commented how great the vegetable soup was. A few minutes later, they brought our meals. I can't stand the thought of even eating a bite of it, but I'll admit that her liver and onions, with a pile of mashed potatoes and brown gravy, did look tastey. Looks can be deceiving. She bent her fork and knife while attempting to cut her liver. The few pieces she managed to cut and eat were ok, she said, but the onions weren't fully cooked like they should be for a dish like liver and onions. Strike three.
I didn't say a word to her about my Big Boy and cherry Coke, which were awesome; I just kept my mouth shut out of solidarity to her. The server came to take my plate and saw her almost untouched plate and asked "Was everything ok, ladies?" I spoke right up and told him that the liver was so tough she couldn't eat it. He apologized, and asked if she wanted another order of it, or if she wanted something else. She told him that she had a busy schedule this afternoon, and didn't have time to wait. (You go, Mom. Now you all know where I get my attitude from.) So the server said he would deduct the price of the dinner from the bill. At least they were treating us right. He brought the adjusted bill back to the table, and when I looked at it, I had to do a double take: they deducted the price of the liver and onion dinner as promised, but they added on the price of the cup of soup. I could not breathe. On the way to the counter to pay the check, I told Mom that I was going to have them take that off the bill, too. She argued "No, I'll pay for the soup. It was good."
I'm sorry we struck out today, Mom. But we really didn't strike out - we had a great day just spending time together.
No comments:
Post a Comment