Conversation from a couple weeks ago:<\/p>\n
Kristin: “Lindsay just wrote me and said that Thai Place was closed.”<\/p>\n
Me: (inhaling all available oxygen in my office) “WHAT??????”<\/p>\n
Kristin: “She said they tried to go today & they were closed down.”<\/p>\n
Me: (gasping like a fish in the bottom of a boat, arms flailing) “WHA? NO! WHA? That can’t be right. I did takeout last night. I have all these gift certificates! What am I supposed to do with – NO!”<\/p>\n
Kristin: “I don’t know! That’s what she said!”<\/p>\n
Me: “I’m calling them.” (fingers stabbing keypad on phone: 753-THAI. Don’t even laugh that I have it memorized. It’s easier than my own phone number.)<\/p>\n
Fast Busy Signal.
Then, that supposedly calm, soothing voice: We’re sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please check the number and try again.<\/p>\n
I LUNGE at the display on my phone. I have dialed the number. 7.5.3. T. H. A. I.<\/p>\n
Me: “OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD! The number is disconnected! That can’t be right!” I stare, dumfounded at the phone. “I’m calling them again.”<\/p>\n
(beep beep beep, 753-THAI) This time, normal ringing. Then, like a musical symphony of string instruments and a piccolo, I hear, “Hello, Thai Place.”<\/p>\n
Relief floods my body. I decide not to pass along the rumor to this fellow, since he doesn’t have a sweeping command of the English language, anyway. Instead I revert to the tried & true standby: “Hi! How late are you open?”<\/p>\n
Him: “We are open right now.”<\/p>\n
Me, now unable to stop playing this charade: “No, how late are you open tonight?”<\/p>\n
Him: “We are open right now through dinner.”<\/p>\n
Me, now completely jammed into a corner and unwilling to be rude, yet, for no apparent reason now feel compelled to establish their closing time before I will hang up: “No, how LATE, WHEN do you CLOSE tonight?”<\/p>\n
Him, in heavy accent, mind you: “Ten Forty.”<\/p>\n
Me: “Ten Forty?????? Uh, OK. Thank you!”<\/p>\n
I then inform Kristin not only are they open, they are open until 10:40. Which is an odd time to close, in my non-restaurateur mind, and then as I’m saying all this outloud, in some kind of post-traumatic stress chatter, like a spider monkey, I realize it was the accent and they probably close at 10:30, and I say all that out loud as well. I hear the I.T. guy on the other side of the wall chuckling at me. I do not care. My pants could have fallen off, and I wouldn’t have noticed.<\/p>\n
The point was, they were OPEN. The opposite of CLOSED. Hallelujah, thank you Buddah! White doves flew about my head in a symbolic flutter of peace restored. And my heartbeat could return to its normal resting state. Because grilled mint beef salad is the most amazing dish, ever. I could eat it every day, sometimes twice. 10:40 in the a.m, 10:40 at night. Thai Delight. Breathe in, breathe out. Cancel the Code Blue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conversation from a couple weeks ago: Kristin: “Lindsay just wrote me and said that Thai Place was closed.” Me: (inhaling all available oxygen in my office) “WHAT??????” Kristin: “She said they tried to go today & they were closed down.” Me: (gasping like a fish in the bottom of a boat, arms flailing) “WHA? NO! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plazajen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}