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The Eclectic Pen - Girl's Night Out

By: Deb B. (mizdeb)  
Date Submitted: 12/16/2009
Last Updated: 12/16/2009
Genre: Literature & Fiction » Genre Fiction
Words: 522
Rating:

Last night, my best friend Lucy and I told our husbands we needed a "girls night out" free of the demands of motherhood. We figured we would check out the new upscale seafood restaurant in town. An evening away from home would be just the thing to recharge our batteries. I imagined us sitting at a piano bar sipping tropical drinks, and enjoying the soothing sounds of Gershwin and Rogers and Hammerstein melodies tinkling across the piano keys. Staying at home with our noisy toddlers would have been the safer bet. The restaurant turned out to be chaotic. From the moment we arrived at the restaurant the confusion began. Lucy and I could see twenty or thirty cars in line for valet parking. Impatient patrons were honking their horns loudly. Two frantic parking attendants darted from car to car collecting keys and distributing claim checks. An argument between an elderly man and one of the valets ensued because the man did not want to surrender his keys to the valet. We pulled out of the line to see if we could find parking on the street. Lucy and I cruised the surface streets adjacent to the restaurant, looking for a suitable parking space to no avail. Just as we were about to give up and leave we spotted a parking slot. We were relieved to be getting out of the car and into the restaurant waiting room. Unfortunately, the waiting room was packed. We huddled next to each other surveying the crowd. The couple next to us, a tallish slender man with waist-length dreadlocks and his sultry blonde date were standing so close to each other that it appeared they were locked in an intimate embrace. A bedraggled young woman across from us had two small fidgety children squirming on her lap. A distinguished-looking gentleman gave up his seat for an old woman. The waiting-room crowd overflowed onto a small outdoor patio area. When we were at last seated, the noise from the adjoining bar and dance floor made it impossible to communicate. When the waiter came to the table, we were forced to point at our menu selections to order dinner. The two of us attempted a conversation in vain and after several tries resorted to writing on our napkins and hand signals to "talk." As if to say that it was not our destiny to enjoy a relaxing and quiet night out, a crowd of burly men started up a sloppy rendition of "Danny Boy" in the nearby bar. By this point the combination of loud music, noisy crowd and "Danny Boy" were more than Lucy and I could bear. Our expectations of a peaceful,elegant dinner were certainly not going to be met here. If chaos is what we had desired we had plenty of that at home with our husbands and young families. We both rose from the table and beat a hasty retreat into the cool, still night, and back to our own noisy domestic bliss.

The Eclectic Pen » All Stories by Deb B. (mizdeb)

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