Side Roads and Dandelions

by W.H. Harrod

  ~~ Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sam didn’t enter the restaurant right off. Instead, he stepped back from the structure to get an unobstructed view of the two-story brick building. An engraved plaque set in the brick façade near the top of the building proclaimed it was built in 1936. The second floor windows were flanked on each side by dark green louvered shutters, while the first floor consisted mostly of glass shaded by a canvas awning. Except for the neon signs in the front window, the building probably looked very much as it did in 1936.

  “I like old buildings,” responded Sam to the quizzical stares of his two companions waiting for him at the entrance to the restaurant. “Boy, am I hungry. How about you guys? It’s my treat so let’s order several different items off the menu, okay?”

  The mixed aroma of breads, sauces, and spices greeted their nostrils as they passed through the front door. Allison watched Sam as he smiled and lifted his chin to allow his olfactory senses to have unobstructed access to the full range of scents. The restaurant looked to be mostly empty, which could be expected as they arrived halfway between lunch and dinner. Still, there was no lack of activity in the building. Voices called out from the kitchen, pots and pans banged, and young employees hurried to and fro performing their respective chores. In the background, almost inaudible due to the incessant activity, Allison heard piped in Italian music.

  The three of them waited by the cash register stand located close to the entrance hoping someone would take notice of their presence. By the way Sam checked out each area of the restaurant, Allison knew he wanted to verify Lia’s presence.

  “Sit wherever you want; someone will be right with you.” The employee didn’t stop as she went by carrying several boxes of supplies to another part of the building. Allison recognized the disappointment on Sam’s face as they made their way to a table located next to a side wall halfway between the front and the back of the dining area. Upon getting seated they took notice of the decorations and photographs adorning the walls. Contrary to what one might expect, there were no pictures of canals or gondolas. The theme conveyed by these photographs extolled the virtues of turn of the century Italian farmers harvesting and gathering their crops in the rolling hills of the mother country. Whatever machinery they employed made use of energy provided by men and horses exclusively. The smiling participants projected a sense of contentment with their physically hard but simple lives. Farmers in the photos used no smog-belching gasoline motors, employed no chemicals, and did not worry about a middleman cheating them out of their hard-earned profit. Any thinking person caught up in the hectic pace of modern day life, given the opportunity to contrast the different eras, had to wonder if that simpler kind of life might not be preferable.

  “We’re still serving off the lunch menu until five o’clock. Can I get you something to drink before you order?” The same young lady who flew by them earlier stood at the table smiling and passing out menus.

  Revealing their pent up thirst, all three ordered large beverages with lots of ice. As the waitress started to turn away, Sam, as Allison expected, inquired as to Lia’s whereabouts. Told that she was presently in the rear office having hobbled in on crutches right before lunchtime, Sam asked that she be informed that the weird people she delivered pizzas to last evening were here to enjoy more of her delicious cuisine. The waitress assured them their message would be passed along and departed to prepare their drinks.

  “Well, are you satisfied?” inquired Allison jokingly.

  “I’m getting there, I expect,” answered Sam.

  “I’m so happy for you, but might not this be a good time to discuss your extremely interesting observations shared on the walk over here?”

  “We’ll see shortly. So keep -”

  “Hey, you guys did come by like you promised,” said Lia smiling as she approached the table with the aid of a pair of crutches. She did not look comfortable with her new walking aids, but on she came, intent on greeting her new friends. “I’m so thrilled you came. I hoped that you would. Is someone missing?”

  Allison expected Sam to answer, but he didn’t, so she spoke up. “I’m afraid Ernest had to involve himself in some important personal matters, but while we are on the subject, we need one of your Lia Specials to take with us so he won’t be mad at us for not waiting for him.”

  “Great! Have you had time to look at the menu? It’s not your normal Italian restaurant fare, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

  Sam kept quiet to Allison’s surprise, so she decided to take control of the situation as was her normal way of doing things anyway.

  “Actually, we were hoping you might be able to join us and give us more of your interesting insights, but it looks as if you’re busy around here.” Allison motioned with her head towards the activity going on in the back of the restaurant.

  The next thing that happened brought a smile to Sam’s face. Lia pushed aside the extra chair and sat down with a thud leaning her crutches against the wall.

  “Tell you the truth I would love to join you guys. My leg is killing me, and I’m not even supposed to be here. If I could afford to listen to my doctor, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve got really good kids working for me, and they’re trying to pick up the slack since I can’t get around very fast. Our next rush won’t start until five o’clock, and I have some time to take a break. So, what sounds good to you?”

  For the first time Sam spoke up. “I have a suggestion. Why don’t you pick out a few items you think a bunch of mid-westerners might like and order them for us? Keep in mind that we’ve been out protesting all day, so we’re pretty hungry.”

  “Great! I’d love to. Leave it up to me. This is going to be fun.”

  Before anyone could say differently, Lia got up from the table, grabbed her crutches, and headed for the kitchen. Five minutes later she hobbled back and reported everything had been arranged. During the interim, the waitress brought the drinks along with warm bread sticks and a delicious dipping sauce.

  “Tell me how it feels for you to be back in the trenches protesting again? Has anything changed in the years since you last did this?” Lia asked these questions as she once again put aside her crutches and sat down at the table.

  Sam looked to Allison to let her know he intended to defer to her on this question, so Allison took on the responsibility.

  “Speaking for myself I can say that I feel exhilarated and humbled at the same time. I love to see young people involved with the affairs of their government at an early age, but at the same time I have never been so aware of my age in my entire life. Without help, I don’t understand what these young people are saying most of the time. It’s almost as if they speak another language.” Allison gave a feigned look of exasperation.

  “Don’t let that get to you,” responded Lia. “I have the same problem with the young people that come to work here and even with my own daughter until she graduated from college and began to pursue a graduate degree. The youth aren’t so difficult to understand if you listen to them for a while as I’ve been able to do. Around here they pretty much talk anyway they want among themselves, but they know better than to use anything other than correct English when conversing with the customers. Sometimes they make me laugh when I overhear some of their off-the-wall stuff. It’s completely imbecilic for the most part, in my opinion, but some of it is somewhat ingenious, too.”

  “Maybe there’s hope for me,” said Allison, looking relieved. “As far as my compadres, Bobby hasn’t spoken on the subject yet, and Sam has finished using his vast legal background to inform us that unless we are willing to become more committed individually to our mission, we are pretty much wasting our time. That’s why we love Sam, he keeps us from feeling too good about the world.”

  Lia looked over towards Sam. “Is that what you are Sam, a lawyer? Lawyers usually frighten me.”

  “I was a lawyer at one time I admit, but not any longer,” answered Sam with a straight face.

  “When did you stop?” came t
he follow up question from Lia.

  “Ah, well this morning, actually,” responded Sam with the same straight face. “To tell the truth, I’ve never liked lawyers. I feel so much better now that I’ve seen the light and have rid myself of that burden.”

  Lia scrunched her brow and looked around to the other female at the table to verify Sam’s response.

  “I’ve had to put up with this since we picked him up on the side of the road in Oklahoma,” said Allison. “If you believe this story, you ought to hear about his run in with the potatoes. When you’re talking with Sam all you have to remember is, he is either stringing you along with some wild tale or else he is expounding on some philosophical, political, or social concept that will cause you to ask yourself why this man isn’t running the world, he’s so smart. But, he is one of the three best friends I have. Now my good friend Bobby, on the other hand, is like the young lady said earlier today, ‘pure money’ when he says something. He’s straight forward, easy to understand, and you can take it straight to the bank.”

  Lia seemed prepared to confront Sam about his penchant for telling tall tales, but the arrival of several platters of food simultaneously halted all discussion not related to the ingestion of food. First came the marinated olives and the bruschetta accompanied by one of Lia’s favorite house wines, which Bobby politely excused himself from trying. Then large portions of grilled salmon along with the house special recipe for Tagliatelle al Pollo arrived. Afterwards, they were rewarded with desert consisting of a mango sorbet and lemon pudding with ice cream.

  Allison felt certain as she sat there with her two friends drinking cappuccinos that she could now die and leave the world a fulfilled person. She couldn’t recall the last time she had enjoyed such a wonderful meal. Her little group moaned with delight throughout the feast. Bobby grinned in spite of the pain of having eaten way too much, and Sam frightened her by sitting there with his eyes closed uttering noises that she suspected held some relationship to an enjoyable sexual experience.

  “What words can I use to convey to you how wonderful this meal is,” said Allison to Lia who smiled as she intuitively knew how much they had enjoyed the meal.

  Sam woke from his trance and offered his thoughts. “You are saying to us that every morsel of this absolutely amazing meal came from purely organic farming operations?”

  Lia smiled and replied, “Including the wines.”

  “This may very well be the best food I have ever eaten in my entire life,” added Sam. “With this much taste and quality in your food, you must have an absolute gold mine here. I can’t imagine any person who has ever eaten here not coming back every day.”

  “Thank you all so much. It’s so gratifying to hear you say such nice things. It’s times like this that makes it worthwhile. I only wish you all could stay here in Berkeley and come back on a regular basis.”

  Allison sensed from Lia’s tone that possibly this restaurant that produced such an amazing dining experience might not be the gold mine Sam referred to earlier.

  “What?” asked Sam who obviously did not share Allison’s sense of decorum relating to such topics. “Do you mean to tell me the people in this town aren’t knocking your doors down everyday to enjoy this wonderful food?”

  “I’m sorry if I gave you that idea. I guess I meant to say it’s certainly not an easy job, and I do love practically every minute of it, but it is so gratifying to meet people like you who appreciate a small business operator and all the work that goes into making a business like this work. That’s all I meant to say. So thank you again for your compliments, and they are definitely appreciated.”

  Sam had his analytical face on now, so Allison and Bobby knew to listen.

  “You know, I’ve thought a lot about what you said last night about the organic food industry, and it has caused me to begin to think more about the need for people like me to become more knowledgeable and, possibly, become involved in the industry. Does your business participate in the industry on other levels, such as growing the product, refining the product, or marketing and distributing the products to businesses and households?” Sam’s heightened interest was obvious.

  “I wish,” lamented Lia, “that I had the time, energy, and the funds to get more involved in the areas you mentioned. But honestly, I’m so busy on a daily basis keeping the doors open that I have difficulty thinking about other possibilities. Right now, my biggest concern is negotiating a new lease for this building. Before I came it was a run down mess, but now that I’m starting to do well, the owner’s talking about doubling my rent which will just about put me back to square one on the ladder of profitability. I’ve learned that for the small businessperson it’s always something. It goes with the territory.”

  Allison could picture Sam’s brain assimilating every morsel of information Lia offered to him and added it to his vast databank of business and legal acumen as he calculated different business models in his mind.

  “Last night,” said Sam, “my good friend, Bobby, and I talked for a long while about the many interesting aspects of the organic food industry that you mentioned and the many difficulties that small farmers and ranchers experience. Based upon Bobby’s concurrence with your dour assessment of the industry’s future in face of the ongoing assault from the multi-national corporations, I think this is something I would be interested in taking a look at. Bobby, who I mentioned last night, is a long time farmer and rancher and knows of what you speak.”

  “If there is anything I can do to help you to learn more, don’t hesitate to ask. I think it is wonderful that you’re investigating our industry. I only wish more people would do the same. It’s small groups working together that will make changes in the world.” Lia said, not trying to hide her excitement at Sam’s revelation.

  “I was hoping you would say that. Before I bother you for information without you knowing anything about my background, I will let you that I am a legitimate businessman as well as an attorney. I propose that you log on the Internet when you have a minute and check out my soon-to-be former law firm’s web site. My photo and résumé will give you more insight into my career. Then, if you are still interested, perhaps you will let me review whatever written material you have collected on your industry and later allow me to observe your day to day operations?”

  Lia’s prompt response came as a surprise. “Why wait? I’ll give you piles of information before you leave today. As for learning about what goes on around here, I’ll put you to work tomorrow if you really want to learn about this. I can always use more help. One of these days I’ll get around to checking out your web site, but I have a good feeling about all of you. It’s not everyone who gets up and disrupts their lives to come here and stand in the street to protest the unacceptable activities of our government. Think about it while I find a box for the books and articles I want you to read.”

  Without waiting for a response, Lia hobbled away from the table leaving the three stuffed but contented diners alone.

  “What’s on the schedule for tomorrow? Would it be possible for me to miss a day of marching to take Lia up on her offer?” Sam asked in a pleading tone.

  Allison wasted no time before turning towards Bobby and directing her response to him. “Bobby and I have some business of our own to take care of tomorrow, so I don’t see any problem with you spending the day here checking out ahhhhh…the organic food industry. What do you say, Bobby?”

  “Absolutely,” responded Bobby in his usual succinct fashion.

  “Are you two sure you don’t want me to go along with you tomorrow if you are going where I think you are?” inquired Sam.

  “We’re sure, Sam. Thank you anyway. Bobby and I can handle this one. Tomorrow will be a good day for us to take care of personal matters. Saturday is the day of the big march over in the city, which I hope we can all attend together.”

  Lia’s return halted their conversation.

  “Sam, the box is too heavy for me to handle with these crutches, so if you coul
d help me, I would appreciate it. Guys, it looks as if I’m going to have to get back to work as something has come up as usual. Thanks again for coming in and being my guest today; I will be angry if you don’t come by before you leave town.”

  As Allison and Bobby began to get out of their chairs to leave, Sam followed Lia towards the rear of the restaurant to get the box of information she prepared for him along with the pizza they ordered earlier for Ernest.

  “Bobby,” Allison said to her friend as they helped each other towards the exit door, “I don’t ever want to get around this much good food again. The food here is so good it’s dangerous. When we stop to say goodbye, hit me with something if I try to order anything. I’ve gained five pounds already.”