November 25, 2009

• Eight-year-old Businessman

  I make oyster dressing by my mother's recipe every year for Thanksgiving, and today was my day to cook.  I stopped at a local oyster bar on Monday to order for Wednesday my raw oysters for the dressing, and they told me to call Wednesday morning to place my order. This morning I thought a girl had answered, and I thought she was rather obtuse.

  I told the answerer that I wanted three pints of raw oysters with the oyster water intact, and I asked if they wanted my name and a credit card number.  They said no, and we hung up.  I thought that was strange, and I didn't really expect my order to be ready when I got there.

  When I got to Gandy's Oyster Bar at 11:30, there were two little boys sitting at the bar rolling silverware.  The younger one kept holding up what he called "butter knives," (which were actually dinner knives) for his brother to pass judgement on.  "Is this for a grownup or a baby?" the younger one kept asking.  The older one kept trying to explain to his little brother that they were all the same, even though some were smaller than others.  Both of those boys were incredibly cute. 

  I told the counterman what I wanted, and the older boy heard me.  "Yeah, I took that call.  You want three pints of raw oysters, and you don't want us to drain off the oyster water," he said.

  "That's right.  How old are you?" I asked. 

  "I'm eight years old, and I took seven or eight orders before we opened today," he said.

  "You're only eight years old, and you're already a businessman?" I asked.

  "That's right," he said.

  Whoa!  Liza immediately flashed before my eyes.  She's only four, but in four years I'll just bet she'll insist on helping her parents in their restaurant.  Those two boys were out of school all this week, so their parents had them at the restaurant instead of hiring a babysitter.  Liza will always be able to spend school holidays with us, if that's what her parents want, but I pretty much know that Liza will want to work in the restaurant, even if it's only to roll silverware.

  ED

  • 11:24 pm
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