Author: Restaurant Gal
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Dreaming of Paradise?
“You live here? You actually live in Key West? It must be awesome! I am so jealous.” I hear dozens of variations on this sentiment every day. Thus, I am curious to hear from my readers–is living in Key West your dream? If so, why? What do you imagine it to be like? And, if…
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Can She See Your Dog?
“Can she see your dog?” he asked, seeming to appear out of nowhere amidst the throng of tourists navigating Duval Street. I was perched at my favorite outdoor bar, Rouletta on my lap, sipping a fresh grapefruit and rum while waiting for my great guy to finish his shift at the restaurant a few doors…
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A Day Before Christmas Eve Story
“I just want you to know,” said the elderly gentleman on a phone somewhere in very cold and very snowy Pennsylvania, “I am booking this family reunion party with you because you were the only one who took the time to listen to all our requests, and you obviously went out of your way to…
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Called In
A manager somewhere in D.C. at 9:45 a.m.: “Hello?” “Hey, you awake?” “Yep. What’s up?” “Can you come in to work? Gotta a no call, no show.” “Sure. Be there in half an hour.” “Thanks.” A manager somewhere in Key West at 9:45 a.m.: “Hello?” “Hey, you sober?” Pause. Laugh to self. “Yep. What’s up?”…
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Stark Reality in Daylight
You had hoped it wasn’t so. You have no choice but to still hope you are wrong. But your nagging inner voice is wondering if it was simply all about the smoke, the mirrors, the dogs, the ponies, the show. You admit that you made a mistake. You are forced to “stick it out” for…
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Bliss
Her hair curled in frizzy clumps as it flew away in the soggy tropical air. His pale face glistened with a combination of sweat and grease as he struggled not to notice how stifling the soggy tropical air felt on his Minnesota skin. Her glasses slipped down her nose. He pushed damp bangs off his…
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Just Another Day
On a day when I discovered the frozen custard I ate for lunch poisoned me with wheat and soy, I did my best to push through the knife-in-the-stomach pains. On a day when my great guy finally got a job in Key West, I did my best to be thrilled. On a day when the…
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Thanks for Giving
“Just chill out, you’re in Key West for God’s sake!” said a friend who is facing an extraordinarily difficult life transition, and who, for reasons that only a good friend does, put his turmoil aside and heard what must have seemed such petty concerns on my part. He pointed out all the good things that…
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The GIrl Next Door
He throws a half full bottle of beer into the street. His partner throws a plastic cup into the fence. He yells. So does he. For a half second a tense silence shimmers in the dank humid air, then they notice the girl next door, across the street, who sits on her front porch. In…
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Moving on Past the Moving Day Blues
You take nothing for granted when you live in an adorable, renovated cottage in Old Town. “Residential Parking” spots in front of your adorable cottage are snapped up by anyone. Everyone. Your tiny back deck that is separated by a tall fence is no match for a taller bamboo grove that grows an inch too…