Lunch

The roof is nearly finished. Today is probably the last day. The guys are working feverishly to finish before the afternoon thunderstorms and in hope that they won't have to make that drive again tomorrow...

The owner of the business called this morning to give me my final total. I explained to him that I couldn't find the card that my "financing" was coming from (darn my organizational skills!), but that I had another credit card that would cover it. There was a pause. "Ma'am, we don't take credit cards without a fee - can you write a check?" Steam began curling out my ears. Why, if he didn't take cards, did we go through that rigamarole a month ago for the financing thing? Through lips that didn't move, I said "I'll figure something out."

So ZBoy and I set off for the bank and managed to do a cash advance straight into checking so I could write them a check when it was all over.

Feeling vastly relieved, I invited Z to have lunch out and we wound up at his favorite restaurant of all time. It's just a little place at the end of a strip mall and run by a Hungarian family. But the food is AWESOME, and healthy and the people who work there are truly family.

When ZBoy wasn't eating, I took him there to try to entice him to put food in his belly. He wouldn't do it. Phyllis, Miss Saundra and Cindy were all quite concerned about him and fussed over the weight he'd lost and how he needed to eat! When Z was recovering, we went there and they were so happy to see him, thrilled to feed him and hug him when he'd cleaned his plate.

Today, when we went, he ordered chicken strips and fresh fruit. I had baked chicken, collards, black-eyed peas - and shared the mac & cheese and yellow rice with Z (I can only have very small amounts of those things). While we were waiting for our food, ZBoy saw a beautiful slab of chocolate cake go past on its way to another table. His eyes lit up (as I'm sure mine did) and he turned, grinning to me with eyebrows raised. "IF you finish your lunch, you may have a piece to take home," I decreed.

Cindy must have overheard or saw ZBoy's reaction to that cake because as we were finishing, she came over and said, "I'll slice you a nice big slice of chocolate or snickers cake - or would you rather have two smaller pieces of each?" Z couldn't make up his mind, so he asked for the two smaller pieces (which were still gigantic). "In a to-go box, please!"

He sat back and looked rather contented while we waited.

"So... how does it feel to have the world wrapped around your little finger?" I asked.

"Well, mostly it feels great! But sometimes, it's a little tight."

Good answer.