HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

I loved it when she forgot our anniversary because then I remembered it, and it got an extra dimension, so I was kind of hoping for it.

I poured her morning coffee, and she lit up her first cigarette.

Happy 20th anniversary Patricia!"'

"Oh my God, I forgot again, I didn't buy you a present!"

"That's ok, I don't need a present. I thought you might wanna go out today, do something nice together".

"Like what, where are we going then? Don't you need to work?

"No, I took the day off, that is up to you, you can choose, I'll take you anywhere you want. Thank you for staying with me for 20 years, thank you for keeping up with me"

"Anywhere? Really, all day?"

"Anywhere, all day.......in Holland, to make sure you don't say Heidelberg or Paris or Florence"

"I would like to go to the Van Gogh Museum"

"Okey, Van Gogh it will be"

I put on a nice suit and my Testoni shoes, which she always called Testeron-i shoes, so I would look extra festive and handsome for her. She put on all the gold that I bought her over the years and the prettiest outfit, I could see that she was serious about making this our special day. The smell of her perfume, Youth Dew from Estée Lauder, brought back memories from when we just met, this day was promising lots of happiness.

In the car, she squeezed my hand with 20 years of love, I felt so happy and didn't let go for minutes. She talked about why she loved his paintings and especially his sunflower paintings. The history buff that Patricia was, I got all the Van Gogh education a person could wish for, and we entered the museum as Van Gogh connoisseurs.

"Are we going home now?" she asked when we were done at the museum"

"No, of course not, it's our anniversary! We are going to the Keizer Bodega opposite the street to have some bites and drinks".

"I like it here, what a pretty place"

"It is a famous café and has a lot of history because it is next to the concert hall, and a lot of famous musicians come here to eat or drink, one of their specialties is Sole Meuniere, in butter sauteed Dover Sole".

"I like Dover Sole, can we stay for dinner?"

"No, I planned to take you to a very special place for dinner"

"Where then?"

"It was in the country where I first took you out for dinner"

"But............................... I don't remember"

"You don't? Happily, I do, let's go get the car."

After an hour's drive, I took the scenic route, we arrived in Beusichem, a small countryside old village, a pretty area famous for the fruit trees they have. I parked in the market square just in front of the restaurant.

"You remember, this is where I first took you out for dinner, we escaped Amsterdam because we went out several times there and we always met people that I knew, I didn't want that because I wanted to have you for myself, I didn't want to share your attention."

"I remember now...............

"So, you have seen it now, the restaurant probably sucks, shall we go somewhere else? "

"No, I want to go here!"

"That's what we'll do then, let's go on an adventure."

I opened the door of the restaurant, it was not busy, there were two more couples and a family of six, plenty of room for us.

We were received and greeted by a tall waiter in an old-fashioned outfit, a black suit, a white shirt, and a bow tie. Maybe greeted was not the right expression, he said "Good Evening", but he didn't move an inch from the side of the bar.

As those words were all he said I volunteered in giving the reason for us being there.

"Hello, we would like to have dinner, the two of us, do you have a table for us"

"I guess he was looking at his reservation list and after a while, he pointed at a table on the left side of us and said, still standing at the bar: "You can take that table"

Not knowing what he meant, I walked over to a table and asked him; "This one?"

The third table I pointed at was Bull's Eye, so we sat down.

"We can still leave, I said to Patrica, "you know this dinner is going to be a disaster".

"We'll manage", she said.

Finally, the waiter moved and came to our table. He looked at me, and his glasses made his eyes look giant, which also enlarged his we-do'nt-want-your-kinda-people-here-look.

"Did you see, that in between the pepper and salt shaker the postcard that we have, you can write a card and then we will put postage on it and mail it, shall I bring you a pen"

"Well, that's a very nice gesture from your restaurant, we might do that later, like at the end of the evening?" I suggested. "We first would like to enjoy a drink, can you take our drink order then?" I thought that this waiter and me probably wouldn't become friends and that the best I could do that evening is to verbalize everything really clear to him, in order to get our wishes fulfilled. I always wonder why people who kind off hate people in general, go into the hospitality business or become a bitchy nurse or doctor. Somebody should tell them.

He walked away when we wanted to order our drinks, and after a couple of minutes, he came back, just standing there. I guessed it was my turn to speak, "My wife and I celebrate our Anniversary today, so she would really like a glass of Champagne and for me a tonic."

"Komp-per-fles", he said in a sort of dialect for the illiterate. It comes per bottle it meant.

"Well, a bottle is a little bit too much for her, what kind of wines do you serve per glass?"

"Red and white", he said. "Oh, that's quite a selection, do you guys realize it is already 2006?"

We ordered a two-course dinner, and the chef obviously also was stuck somewhere in the seventies, the food tasted good but was predictable, not more or less, sure no surprises.

The waiter cleaned our dishes and it took him like four times to clear those few dishes from our table, because I noticed he served other people in between doing that. Like we got a sort if-there-is-time-I-do-your-table-in-between-more-important-stuff-service.

We took a dessert from the seventies, poached pear with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. When he served the desserts I took the opportunity to order coffee right away".

"Could you bring us one cappuccino and an espresso"

"We don't have cappuccino"

"What do you mean, you don't have a cappuccino, it is the most-served coffee in the Netherlands, you have an espresso machine and you served pommes gratin, which means that you must have milk in the house, so, you have all the ingredients to make a cappuccino."

Again, he walked away without answering me and came back a little later with two black coffees and the tiniest cup of milk on the side. I actually thanked him and said: "I want to let you know that I really appreciate the effort you made to serve us that cup of milk, so we can enjoy our coffee".

It really was the weirdest dinner we ever had. We paid and I gave him an enormous tip, for the story he gave me to tell.