Lunch with the Honchos

As the sole student representative to go to the lunch with Pamela and her Foundation people, I feel it is my duty to tell the tale:

At about noon last Wednesday, the group of us headed out to our big lunch. Destination: Red Sauce. We practically ran out the doors of the building and piled into three cars. I was with Fred, Julia, Janet, and Phil... which was definitely a fun vehicle to be in.

Upon entering the restaurant, we all gazed in awe at the wallpaper, which was a giant collage of pages from Italian newspapers and magazines. When we sat down at our table, the gazing did not stop, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself seated within direct view of a small, slightly dated picture of Prince Harry. (It's true: I used to have a major crush on the kid. But that was sooo 90s.)

Anyway, we ordered our drinks and were chatting pleasantly when Janet came dashing down to my end of the table (the cool end... the end with Heather, Julia, Fred, Phil, and me) in a total panic. "We forgot Nik and Chhavi!!!" she whispered frantically. Looks of horror, surprise, and disappointment raced down the table, as well as a few well (and some not-so-well) stifled laughs of utter disbelief. Janet grabbed the keys to a car (whose car? I don't know, that's the exciting bit) and flew back to the office.

Little did she know, Nik and Chhavi realized that they had been left behind not too long after the rest of us had jetted out the door. However, they were stuck because a) Chhavi takes the T to work and thus has no car and b) Nik only has one helmet. I can almost hear their cries of distress and frustration. But that, my friends, is where KP saved the day! You see, KP was also left behind, since she was in the S&S office behind the bookcases. KP jumped into action, gathered the wailing Nik and Chhavi into her minivan, and off they went to Red Sauce.

In the meantime, Janet was arriving at the office and wondering where in the world Nik, Chhavi, and KP were.

Luckily, everyone arrived at the restaurant before the food was ordered, so everyone was happy. (Although, I must say, Nik did look slightly miffed as he took his seat. So it goes.)

The food was wonderful. The crowd at my end of the table feasted on such appetizers as fried zucchini strings, shrimp, scallops, calamari (all fried), and delicious bread. (I only had a tiny sliver of bread because my string-like arms could not handle my knife well enough, and my ego was too bruised to let on that I wanted more than just a bite-sized slice. So it goes.) I also gorged myself on veal marsala and gnocchi, which was amazing.

The gang at the cool end of the table all subconsciously decided to save room for coffee and dessert, so we pushed our plates aside, asked for doggie bags when the waitress came to collect the dishes, and sat back, patting our bellies contentedly. We happily (and sleepily) watched Janet talk animatedly at the other end of the table and discused the desserts we would have: tiramisu, cheesecake... the mental drool buckets were filling up quickly.

Sadly, to our surprise, we spied Pamela clutching the check and then making a break towards the door. "No coffee???" our horrified eyes seemed to scream after her. Fred, Julia, Phil, and I made a mad dash to the door (stealing a napkin on the way because my doggie bag was leaking marsala sauce... shhhh, don't tell!), threw ourselves into Fred's SUV, and left the caravan to make a caffeine stop at Dunkies.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience: great food, classic conversations, mesmerizing wallpaper, and the unforgettable fact that we left our international workers behind. "Unintentionally" is the key word here.

Cheers, Sir John!