Fairlawn Friday Fish and Chips.

Fairlawn Friday Fish and Chips.

 

It seemed that there was a always rainy and cold Friday late afternoon, when I had to walk to the café to pick up Fish and Chips.  I guess those are times that I mostly remember, as it was usually dusk and a cold, clammy, miserable-looking day. And that kind of day usually brought on an inner depression. Anyway. My father for some reason or another didn’t like the owner of Kiernan’s Café which was on the corner of Smithfield Avenue and Hopkins Street and would tell me that I had to go to Grandee’s Restaurant which was located on Smithfield Avenue near the Fairlawn Theatre. He was always at work when I went on this particular errand and I would take the money from my mother, who likewise insisted on my going to Grandee’s and not Kiernan’s. My mother had nothing against the Kiernan’s and none of the rest of the family ever knew why my father was against them, as they seemed to me to be very hard-working people and friendly people.

Now there was a price difference between the two restaurants for the orders of Fish and Chips. With Kiernan’s being slightly lower prices but the quality seemed equal to me anyway. The only other difference is that Grandee’s wrapped the order in Newspapers and Kiernan’s did not.

One day, I got the bright idea to make money an easy way. I would grab a few newspapers on my way out, with my money for the Fish and Chip order. I would go to Kiernan’s instead of Grandee’s, wrap the orders in newspapers and pocket the difference and no one was the wiser. It was difficult to keep a straight face when my father would try to make a dig against Kiernan’s and remark how good our Fish and Chips were, that we had from Grandee’s.

 

Rev. Edward McClelland 10-24-2023