My walk didn’t take me very far, just a few blocks, before I ducked into a convenience store in order to get out of the rain. I inconspicuously strolled up and down the aisles so I didn’t look like I was loitering, and even purchased a few old-time candies and a soda on my way out. The rain had mostly subsided while I was in the store, and so had my frustration, so I decided to head back to my sister’s apartment and face the family.
When I arrived my sister and mom were silently unpacking while my dad watched television, and my reappearance didn’t evoke much of a reaction from the three of them. I took a seat on the couch next to my dad, joining his show in progress, until my mom requested that I help move some of the heavier boxes to a better spot for them to be unpacked. After this task I went back to the couch while they finished unpacking, and by the time their job was completed it had gotten quite late.
At the same time we all realized how late it was our stomachs began to collectively growl, and the window for us to find a place for dinner before hunger induced anger ensued briefly opened. My sister and I had noticed that things had relatively stabilized since I’d returned from my walk in the rain and she had finished unpacking, so finding an agreeable place to eat dinner quickly was of the utmost importance so that we didn’t take a step back. Since Sarah didn’t know the area very well we immediately turned to Yelp for assistance; however there were several obstacles looming in our way that needed to be mitigated.
First, and foremost, we had spent so much time earlier in the day driving around, lost, that none of us wanted to get back in the car and drive somewhere for dinner. Finding a restaurant everyone could agree upon that was within walking distance wouldn’t have normally been very difficult, but since it was during the week, and pretty late, most restaurants that weren’t bars or fast food chains were closed or closing soon. After some mildly contentious debating we narrowed down our choices and began walking in their direction, but unfortunately as soon as we stepped outside it resumed raining.
After feeling the first few drops, and watching my parents fumble through opening their umbrella as the rain progressively came down harder, my sister and I did the only thing we could to try to save the situation, which was RUN!! Since our restaurant options were all a straight shot from the apartment we knew if my parents kept walking straight they’d eventually catch up with us, and if we ran ahead we could find a place to eat without them having to do any extra walking.
After finding the first restaurant on our list unexpectedly closed for the night, and the second unexpectedly closed forever, we began to panic, and as we ran further up the block our prospects continued to look bleak. We would have eaten any type of food at that point, so when we found an open pizza joint called Upper Crust Pizza my sister and I figured we’d give it a shot. We caught our breaths while scanning the menu, and after quickly looking around realized that we might have stumbled onto a gem of dinner spot. We agreed that this was our place so my sister grabbed a table and I ventured back out into the rain to find our parents.
I found them about a block back looking worse for wear, but told them we’d found a place and hurried them along through the rain. As soon as we got inside I could tell that they were both on their last nerve and a dangerous combination of tired, hungry and generally agitated, but after they sat down and took off their soaked outer layers we could see their facial expressions begin to loosen ever so slightly. Sarah was in line and just before she made it to the front to place our order I asked my parents what they wanted.
As soon as the question came out of my mouth I regretted it, and decided to not wait for a response and just join Sarah near the counter where we could pick a pizza at random and hope for the best. When it was our turn we selected the special pizza of the day, a roasted red pepper, ricotta and fried eggplant pizza, and then joined our parents at the table. There wasn’t much conversing while we waited for our pizza to be ready, and after our number was called, and I brought the pie back to our table, everyone immediately dug in like drunken college students at 3 in the morning.
“This is good,” my mom said.
“I agree,” my dad responded while my sister and I muttered, “Thank G-d” under our breaths before agreeing with their sentiment.
On the walk home the rain had subsided and everyone seemed to be in a much better mood. Apologizes were expressed all around since it had been a very tough day for everyone, and we all knew in the back of our heads that it could have been a hell of a lot worse if my sister and I hadn’t found Upper Crust Pizza, and their roasted red pepper, ricotta and fried eggplant pizza hadn’t saved the day, and maybe, our family.
