Sumptuous
Published on December 14, 2009
As in:
It was only Gabriella’s intention to seize what she thought was a prudent and logical business opportunity, to open “Picnic Partners,” in what used to be a barber shop on the east side of Vernal, Utah. That way people coming over from Salt Lake City, or even down from Rock Springs, could grab sumptuous boxed lunches on their ways to the Dinosaur National Monument. It penciled out with the bank. It afforded reasonable hours. She enjoyed working with the public.
What she had no way to foresee is that “Picnic Partners” would figure in one colorful liaison after another. And who could know that, “visiting the monument” would become code for scandalous hookups and illicit affairs? And that the rendezvous at Picnic Partners would be the gateway not only for a fine national exhibit, but for two or three Vernal motels that had superb track records on confidentiality, and reasonable rates?
She only began to notice the trend for herself after a regular customer filled her in on the activity after discretely disclosing that he was a private detective, hired by a suspicious wife in Denver. After that it was harder to take the compliment of the cheating husband–that Picnic Partners made the best egg salad on rye in the west–with a straight face. Then there were the jokes in the kitchen about whether the paprika was an aphrodisiac.
On the last day in June a celebrity basketball player arrived with a carload of admirers and sent one of them in to order a tuna, a hard salami, two veggies, and a double roast beef, with two extra orders of chips and pickles, and five strawberry-banana smoothies.
“Hey,” said Julio, as he set up the blenders, “ask him if we can take a picture.”
The kitchen erupted in laughter, which Gabriella quelled by snapping her fingers in mock anger.
“How many times do I have to tell you?” she scolded. “We’re just here to make the sandwiches.”