My 18th Birthday

For my 18th birthday, Jimmy took me to Two Ceasars in Washington, D. C. It was an Italian restaurant resplendent in marble statuary, dark red walls and strolling violinists. We were a year older than those two country bumpkins who went to the Shoreham Hotel to hear Petula Clark. This year, we had it all together. I was a senior in high school and he had already graduated and was gainfully employed.

The interior of the restaurant was grand. The tables had crisp white tablecloths and crisp white napkins. The crystal glasses gleamed in the candlelight. I was 18! In my last year of school! Adulthood was so close I could feel it. (I didn't consider myself an adult because I was still in high school.)

We ordered our dinners and sipped our pre-dinner drinks. This time, I had a Sloe-gin fizz. Much better than that awful Manhattan. During our meal, the violinist came and stood by our table and played several selections. I liked it, but he just didn't seem to want to go away and I really wanted him to go away! One piece was enough. I realized later that maybe we were supposed to tip him? Oh, no! Was this going to be a repeat of last year's fiasco? No, no, calm down. He's leaving. Whew! We returned to eating our dinners, and at last we were finished. It was time to leave. Nothing untoward had happened - we had money for the waiter's tip this time.

We rose from the table to leave when it happened. Jimmy had gotten the crisp white tablecloth caught between his knees and when he stood up the tablecloth came with him. Crash! All the glasses, the candle in it's wine bottle, the silverware - it all came crashing down. Some of it landed on the floor, the rest in a pile on the table.

The waiter came over to help gather it all up. After profusion of apologies, we left more money for the tip and calmly walked out of the restaurant. Outside, we looked at each other and tried to figure out if this was going to be a recurring theme of our birthday dinners or could we actually go out to dinner and have absolutely nothing go wrong?

If only we had a crystal ball to foresee the future...