Could I Get My Check

Louise had today off of work due to her regular Monday off falling on a stat holiday. That pushes her day off back a day which gave her the third three day week in a row. Pretty sweet scheduling. She works the hours, but it is more fun to think that lady luck is smiling down on her. Since she had today off, we decided to do a bit of shopping and have a brunch at Cora's. Brunch because we wanted to beat the lunch crowd.

There were a couple of odd things that happened while we were at Cora's. I guess the first is that there was a baby in her mother's arms waiting to seated when we walked in and I did my "Poppa" wave and asked if she were enjoying her baby mum-mum. Her mom looked at me and I said "What kind of grandfather doesn't know what a baby mum-mum is?"

The mom countered with "Oh, I was wondering if you ate them."

I smiled and pointed to my teeth, "All mine." That isn't exactly true, but my manliness was at stake.

They sat us down and brought us menus and coffee. Shortly after the coffee arrived the fire alarm went off. It wasn’t a subtle beep-beep, but more of an oscilating siren with flashing lights. It was kind of like I have imagined a rave to be, except it was daylight, the people were old and fat for the most part and there was plenty of food. The manager came around right away and told us that it was probably a test or a false alarm in the mall and that we shouldn’t be concerned. By that he meant nobody is leaving without paying their check. The siren stopped shortly, but I couldn’t help but notice that the lights were still flashing. If you are going to burn to death, I guess doing it on a full stomach with a cup of fresh coffee is the way to go.

The meal was okay, the potatoes were undercooked, but the omelette was passable. During the meal I was watching these three tables at the back of the restaurant. It appeared that there were five families with five babies all about the same age. I wonder if they were a lamaze group getting together to show off their final exam as it were. Sure, they could be one of those super extended families that took free love to it’s logical conclusion and formed a commune, pooling their money and expertise. Nope, it looks like the lamaze thing was right. They all stood up to go and didn’t leave. They stood there talking and blocking the aisle to the bathroom, milling about like cattle waiting to be slaughtered. Why don’t they leave? I am having trouble enjoying my food because I can’t stop wondering why they haven’t left.

One couple finally left, but the other four are still talking. It has been about fifteen minutes and really, after having breakfast together what else could they have to say? “Your baby is cute! Oh, and your baby is cute, Oh, you have a baby.” WTF? Now two of the women are nursing their kids. Well, they need breakfast too. I am thinking about pulling the fire alarm just to get these people out of the restaurant, but someone beat me to it.

I know of one sure way to get them to leave. “Could I get my check please?”

The server brings the check and as we are putting our coats on, guess what happened? Yep, four couples and the entourage managed to beat us to the till. I sat back and drank the cold quarter inch of coffee that was in the bottom of my cup while the crowd at the till thinned out.