Park Burger / $1.5 BN

The wife was hungry and so I went to park burger to get her a mini on lettuce with carmelized onions and bacon on mixed greens delete raw onion. I'm asked to move towards the back of the restaurant and so I do, and I see phil and gretchen and even though we sleep 15 feet from them I receive two warm hugs and phil, being huge, knocks a canvas wrap off the wall and so I explain to their friends that when I go to park burger, I always do twice as much damage as my food bill.

So there is only one seat open at the bar so I sit at it, a large man to my left and a petite female to my right. To my left, the large older distinguished man with short or bald hair is there with his wife and very built, very simple, son, with the large ears, the tattoo on his arm, and the wrist band commemorating some life cut too short. This family eats together and stays together. To my right, the female is with a male companion, I intentionally do not look directly at either one for fear that their fate may become mine, are on a first date. The park burger bartender scans the bar top for empty water glasses or food plates; she does not look for the humanity around her, just the work to be done. I do not like this but I am not surprised; one goes to park burger for the food, not for the people.

Anyway, the large man next to me bumps me very slightly and apologizes; I say, "don't be sorry", if you sit at a bar, you expect to talk to people around you. He agrees; "you're right" he says, or something similar. He would say this to me multiple times before this brief episode concludes. This man can not quite finish his burger and so he offers that last 15% of the burger to his son, who declines, multiple times. The strapping young man with the cropped hair, tattoo, and wrist band and funny ears crushes his burger, and noisily commends the chef "oh yeah" etc. The mother finishes her salad burger. Only Sr. is left with any burger and so he offers the remainder to Jr. (who declines) and eventually the empty plate is noticed (not the people, the plate) and so the plate is whisked away. My beer is good and I enjoy it and I say nothing.

To my right, this first date is going well. The boy is telling stories about montana and the girl is explaining her relocation to denver 18 months ago. Her sister, something, this and that. Then, the real reason. She moved here with her ex-fiancee. The boy, has no retort, says, "oh, me, I've never been engaged" or something. He is happy because he knows, if this girl has been engaged in the past, he will most likely get laid. Girls with ex fiancees always give it up on the first date. So he's psyched. I listen but do not react at all. The local hockey team has scored a goal so Sr. to my left is happy but Jr. has known about the goal for the while and mom doesn't care.

Then, out of no where, the buzzer goes off. I was at park burger to pick up a to-go order for my own spouse and so now the buzzer goes off. Sr. says, jokingly, "wow! yeah! not quite like winning the lottery" or something very similar. I say it makes me just as happy as if I had won the lottery, which perplexes this family. I say "you get to choose to be happy" and they "sort of" agree, but not really. Mom says "but if you won the lottery....." and I say ." ... things would be different." and she agrees literally, but of course I have not convinced her, and I go up to the front to pay for my order. The host guy commends me for my beer selection (it was wonderful and it was from Lagunitas) and I pay for everything and I walk outside. I laugh as I walk outside because of the lottery conversation, as if I'm coming around to my own comment, and some woman is dropping something in the mailbox, and since I was laughing I felt the need to explain myself, and so I say something to her "what were you mailing" and she says "christmas cards" and I say something about that's great or whatever, its january, perfect, and I walk home, and I imagine a lottery where you win happiness instead of cash, and I realize that I won that lottery today.