Gunther’s and Marylou’s

Saturday mornings are the one day that I get to sleep in the entire week. The rest of the days are filled with work, school, or basketball and there is no time for sleep. I wake up around eleven and the first thing I do is check my phone. I already have two text messages. One is from Renae and one is from Emmy with the very same message: “Mlous and gunths?” I unlock my phone and reply that I am going to take a quick shower so meet there in a half an hour.

            I get in the car and I let them know that I am on my way. Renae answers back quickly that her brother took the car so she needs a ride. I tell her I will pick her up in fifteen. I get to her house and she is waiting outside. She hops in the car and we are on our way. We pass Chelsey’s house and we both sarcastically say that we should pick her up. We laugh because we haven’t seen her since she left for college. Apparently she is too cool for us now. We pass the four gas stations and make the turn into Marylou’s.

I go through the drive through because neither of us feels like getting out of the car. I pull up to the microphone and hear the usual high pitched “Welcome to Marylou’s how may I help you?” I automatically order “one medium and one small girl scout both with milk and sugar and no whipped cream.” I don’t even have to think about it anymore because it is programmed into my brain after so long.  We drive up to the pick up window to see either Kayla or Olivia. We exchange small talk and she tells me that it will be $5.83. I give her six and tell her to keep the change. She hands us our straws and coffee and we tell her that we will see her soon. I put the straw in and take a sip before I drive away just to make sure it’s a good one. It always is.

            I pull out into the road and prepare to cross the four lanes of traffic that is route 139. At first it was a struggle but now I am so used to it that I could do it with my eyes closed. I pull into the Gunther’s parking lot and see Emmy waiting in her car. We all greet each other and wonder who we are going to see inside today. Since it is a Saturday morning there is a long line. We make small talk with old classmates or if we are lucky we get to see an old friend or teammate who we haven’t seen in a while. I make sure to check if there are three spinocholi bagels left in the bin. Luckily, today there are exactly three left. I quickly look behind the counter and am happy to see that Angela is working. She sees me and I give her the sign that I want all three. She grabs the bagels and puts them aside so that nobody else can get them before us.

When I finally make it up to the front of the line, I thank Angela for saving the bagels for us. She asks us how school is and why we haven’t been there for a while. We tell her that we have been busy but that we miss her. I go and save three seats for us at the window while Emmy and Renae pay. She rings Renae up for two bagels since I bought her Marylou’s. It comes out to $5.08 so Renae gives her six. She drops the rest of the change in the tip jar, secretly keeping the quarters in her hand. We wait for the bagels to be done then we go and take our seats at the window.

As we eat, we discuss all matters of things from school, to friends, to family as we watch the cars passing on the street in front of us. We spend about a half hour there as people come in and out. By the time we are done we are the only ones left in the shop.  We crumple up our napkins into a ball and check to see if any of the employees are looking, but they are all busy cleaning up. We turn toward the counter that has the small opening for the trash. We set up our shot and hope that today will be the day that we finally make it. Renae shoots first since her chair is closer. Her shot bounces off the front of the counter and onto the floor. I go next and it hits the wall and then lands on the counter nowhere near the trash. I get up and put both napkins in the trash and return to my seat. We make our plans for the day, which always includes tanning, gym, and food, and then we head out. We all say goodbye and thank you to Angela and she tells us she will see us soon. We decide whose driving and then we begin our day.