In The Old Neighborhood..by Michael

A Story by Michael Reisman

Benny remembered an old favorite Italian restaurant from a neighborhood where he used to live. It was tome to go back there and capture those moments. The name of this restaurant was still the same as he walked inside and sat down at a table. No menu was needed as he told the waitress "a large dish of baked ziti please". It came about fifteen minutes later and looked exactly like the way he remembered it to be. This seven o'clock dinner would change the rest of his life. The same waitress brought out the same large dish to a lady sitting at a table only a few feet away. Halfway through their meal they both looked at each other. Familiar faces smiled from quite a long time ago as they recognized one another. Barbara and Benny used to be sweethearts back in the old neighborhood. He joined her at her table as they finished off their favorite dishes. It turned out that they now lived in the same borough and decided to see each other once again. Two forty year olds decided they were old enough and ready to be more serious than before. The decision was made to get married. After the wedding and after the honeymoon, a move was back to the old neighborhood where it all began. You can find Benny and Barbara on any given Saturday night at about seven o'clock in an old favorite Italian restaurant where they used to go to. They now sit at the same table once again sharing a large dish of baked ziti. Maybe two people go back to the same place at the same time to retrieve some fond memories. Love ignites a second spark which is never put out again. Case in point in a short love story about Benny and Barbara, where life began and ended up in the old neighborhood....

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