Chapter 38
When their seats were ready, the six of them took their drinks and sat in front of the stage at a table that held a relish tray filled with gherkins, radishes, and carrots.
They’d already placed their dinner orders before taking their seats.
Young servers made their salads as customers pointed out what they wanted.
“Extra sunflower seeds, if you don’t mind,” Jake said.
“You are so extra,” Mary said. She was having fun aggressively flirting.
When they sat back down, the girls took a moment to admire their surroundings. The room was painted a deep hunter green and was decorated with paintings of fishing and hunting in Wisconsin. Several mounted animal heads served as decoration.
Tommy pointed all of them out to Harper. “That was a big buck. Whoo-wee. And look at that elk. Must have been huge.”
Harper hated the ideas of hunting or taxidermy. She pretended to look at the stuffed animal but fixed her eyes to a spot just below his head.
The guys started reminiscing about making their first deer, and she became desperate to change the subject. Suddenly, Harper pointed to a wall lined with signed headshots of famous past performers.
“Look at that!” Harper pointed to the wall behind the stage. “Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Doris Day, and, just as she said, there’s Frank Sinatra!”
“My Nonna would love it here,” Mary said, craning her neck to see the picture more clearly. “She knew Ol’ Blue Eyes. I think she may have dated him.”
“Wow, you are so New York,” Jake teased her.
“He was actually from Jersey,” she said.
“Remind me to take you to my next old crooner trivia night,” he said.
“If you want to win, I’m your gal.” Mary winked.
“This place is so cozy,” Dot said. “I almost feel like I’ve been here before.”
Tommy agreed. “I know what you mean. We love this place. When we were kids, our dad wouldn’t eat the entire day because he knew we’d be coming here for supper. Then he’d put away a whole lake of fish.”
“And they’d let me tag along,” Danny said.
“I always got the fish fingers and a baked potato. I’d put so much butter and sour cream on it that Grace would say, ‘Danny, you don’t even know you’re eating a vegetable!
’ And then she let me order an extra meal for my mom for when she got off her hospital shift. ”
“Yep. Lots of great memories,” Jake said, looking around the room.
Several people came by to say hi to the Taylors and to thank Jake for his service.
He was kind to all of them and showed a humility that Mary hadn’t seen before.
And he was very polite to all the older folks who stopped by for a word.
“So, what do you think the three best things about living in Wisconsin are?” Dot asked the table to get a discussion going after their entrees were served. She was still trying to understand more about this midwestern state and why it swung from one party to the other every four years.
“Well, that’s a good question,” Jake said, sitting back to let his rib eye digest. “For me, the best thing is that we have this collection of friendly small towns that are all unique and combine to make up one state. I don’t think there’s anywhere else like that in the States.”
“It still has traditions,” Danny said. “Take this place. The supper clubs live on because people still want a place to get together that isn’t a chain restaurant in a strip mall.”
“Though you gotta admit that the Cheesecake Factory is great,” Mary said.
“Fair point,” Tommy said. “That menu is killer.”
“What about you, Tommy?” Harper wanted to know what he thought. “What do you think the best thing is about Wisconsin?”
“Believe it or not, we used to get a day off school on the first day of deer season. I mean, if that’s not a great reason to miss school, I don’t know what is.”
Harper tried to erase the image in her mind of Tommy dragging a deer carcass through the forest, but he saw her face.
“I can’t imagine you ever killing an innocent animal,” she said.
“Hey, don’t shoot,” he said, trying to get her to laugh.
When she didn’t, he said, “Look, I promise I never shot at Bambi,” he said.
“Besides, all the best conservationists will tell you, it’s good to hunt—it helps manage the population of the deer.
And we ate everything we killed. It taught us a lot about responsibility. ”
“I’m going to take your word for it, but I’ll just keep pretending that food magically appears on my plate,” Harper said.
“May I ask if it’s strange to live in such a purple state when it comes to politics? Where so many people disagree and every four years each side tries to rip each other apart here?” Dot asked.
“It’s worse than it was when we were growing up. Lots of animosity—but that’s not really how it is in Cedar Falls. Folks mostly get along—even if they don’t agree. Heck, I’m friends with a lot of Democrats,” Jake said.
“Does that mean you’re a Republican?”
“That’s how I vote. Same as these two.” Jake gestured to Tommy and Danny. Dot took that in, confirming her suspicions.
“Does it bother you that we’re Democrats?” Dot asked.
“It should bother you that you’re Democrats,” Tommy joked.
Harper nudged him with her elbow. “Watch it!”
“I’m kidding. I don’t give a rat’s behind how you vote. That’s how we were raised. Our mom and dad taught us to be good to everyone,” he said. “If we felt like we couldn’t work or be neighbors with people who had different political views, well it’d be hard to run a business.”
“Or be a cop.”
“Or build them a house,” Danny said, jumping into the conversation.
“But do you ever think the Republicans are . . . well, that they go too far on some things?” Dot pressed the point.
“Sure—just about as much as the Democrats do,” Danny said. “Here’s my take—there are extremes on both sides. I tune that out. I go about my business. I don’t let politics get in the way of a good time.”
“Speaking of a good time,” Mary said, veering toward a conversational off-ramp.
A platter of desserts arrived, and the Sinatra impersonator took the stage. They applauded as he broke into “Summer Wind.” Mary hummed along, loving the vibe, her bare, narrow shoulders swaying to the beat.
“What’s all this?” Dot asked, looking at the dessert selection. “This could feed a small army.”
“I ordered us a variety. Wasn’t sure what everyone would want. But I know I’m having a bite of that Snickers pie.” Jake used the large serving spoon and heaped some onto his plate. Then he passed spoons around to everyone before taking a bite.
He’d ordered an ultimate sundae, a cherry cheesecake, a vanilla bean custard crème br?lée, a Schaum Torte, which was a mix of whipped cream and fruit in a meringue shell, and the Snickers pie.
Everyone commented on their favorite.
“It’s the cheesecake for me,” Dot said. “Better than Junior’s.”
“I’m with you there.” Danny took another bite as the singer softly sang “Strangers in the Night.”
“But the crème br?lée is hitting,” Mary said as she took another scoop.
“I liked the cheesecake,” Harper said.
“Told ya that you weren’t lactose intolerant,” Tommy said.
“I have to rethink my whole dessert game!”
“What about you guys? What’s so great about living in New York?” Danny asked.
“Oh, I love this question. Give me a second. Let me think of the best thing,” Dot said as she licked her spoon one last time and imagined her walk to work in the morning.
“Okay. I love Central Park. I used to walk through the park to get to work and back. In the mornings, all the dogs are there running off the leash, having the best time. It really is the greatest park in the world. And then I’d run there in the evenings and on the weekends.
There are people from all over the world there.
And you always see something interesting. Or crazy.”
Harper chimed in. “I love that you have all these interactions with people through your day—like the woman next to you on the subway making her way to work at a hospital, or the barista making your coffee. And there’s the hustle of figuring out how all these people are going to live together on this little island.
It’s a huge city, but in your neighborhood, you can feel like it’s a small town.
Kind of like Main Street here, but with a lot more bagels and neurotic people. ”
They looked at Mary. “What do you think?” Dot asked her. As if on cue, the impersonator struck up Sinatra’s “New York New York.”
“It’s interesting to think about. Because I grew up there and never wanted to live anywhere else. My family is a big part of that. But it’s also inspiring to see all these people doing something—creating, building, dreaming. It’s not a place to sit still. It’s a place to do things. Anything.”
“Well, I’d love to visit one day. I really want to see Times Square,” Tommy said.
“Oh my gosh, Tommy. Anything but Times Square!” Harper said and The Crew laughed.
No one went to Times Square.