Hooking Up in North Beach
a little San Francisco romance - a three-minute story
“I am a little nervous about this,” she said, sitting down with him at a table in the window. It was her first internet match. “Have you done this before?”
“No,” he said ... “Well … no, wait, that is not exactly true.”
It turned out they actually lived in the same neighborhood in San Francisco. They’d texted for a while and decided to meet. He’d suggested Donato’s, about four, have coffee and just see what happens. No pressure.
“I mean, I did meet up with someone once, a couple of months ago. She was nice enough, but it didn’t go very well. There was no … attraction, you know what I mean? She was really into astrology, so, well, that was a little weird. Neither of us had any interests in common, I guess, so we just met the one time.”
Rose glanced out the window at the busy street. There were halos around the traffic lights from the fog creeping in. “I am just looking to meet a normal kind of guy, Tony. Are you normal?” she laughed.
“Normal? Damned if I know. What does normal mean anyway? I am not too sure I want to be what passes as normal these days. I’ll tell you what, though, I am a good guy, I am dependable, I always tell the truth and I wouldn’t intentionally hurt anybody ever. I even drive my friends to the airport, so that’s something. I don’t know — does that make me normal?”
They talked easily for about an hour. She found him to be smart, and clever with words — he made her laugh. Rose liked his company, but it was starting to get dark.
“Rose, would you walk with me?” he asked. “I want to take you somewhere, show you something. We’d have to walk about six blocks, but these streets are okay.”
She hesitated, studied his face, and then stood up. “Let’s go,” she said.
They walked for about twenty minutes through North Beach, the Italian neighborhood, then paused in front of a large Victorian apartment building.
“Where are we going?”
“Just wait. It’s a surprise.” Going up the front steps, he opened the door for her. “It’s on the top floor.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. You don’t like it, just tell me and I’ll walk you back. No worries.”
The hallway and stairs were dim and deserted, lit by a couple of dangling bulbs. She could hear a televised game show faintly from the second floor apartment, a light rattling of pots and pans. A baby cried somewhere. When they got to the third floor landing, she could smell onions and garlic cooking, and ... rosemary, maybe?
Tony took Rose’s arm and knocked at #3.
“Wait. This is not your apartment? Who lives here then?”
The door flew open and an older, rather round woman stood there, drying her hands on her apron. “Antonio! You didn’t tell us you was coming.” She looked at Rose and smiled. “He don’t never tell us when he’s coming. He just comes. Bruno! Tony’s here. He’s got a girl with him.”
A man in slippers came from the back. “Tony! Hey, how ya doin’, kid? Why you don’t tell us when you are coming?” He glanced at Rose and said, “Come in, come in.”
Tony hugged them both. “I want you to meet my new friend, Rose. I just met her today, and she’s a nice woman. Rose, this is my dad Bruno, my mom, Gloria.” They wiped their feet on the mat, threw their jackets on a bench in the hall.
“A pleasure to meet you, Rose. You came just in time, too. Tutti a tavola a mangiare.” Bruno added two more plates to the dining table, and Gloria brought platters of food. Rose noticed photos of family on the mantel, an old oak frame on the wall with a wedding portrait of ancestors. A lace cloth on a side table was background to a ceramic vase of irises.
They all sat down to baccalà and polenta, fried zucchini flowers, sliced tomatoes with mozzarella. Bruno filled their glasses with Chianti. “Salute!” he said. “Cheers!” This was not exactly the date Rose had envisioned, but she was curiously comfortable, sitting at that family table across from Tony. She was glad to be here in this warm little apartment.
“So, Rose... tell us about yourself. Tony he don’t ever bring girls over to meet his family,” his mother teased.
Tony watched as Rose eagerly scooped the polenta onto her plate and began asking questions about what exactly they were eating that smelled so delicious. She was relaxed with his parents, friendly. She didn’t seem disappointed in how this first connection was panning out.
Tony had promised himself that if he matched up with a nice normal girl, the first thing he would do was introduce her to his parents so she could see what she might be getting into. Because when you decide to hook up with an Italian guy, you’re hooking up with the whole family.
Maybe I'm just a big ol cynic, but I really thought this one was going to turn dark at some point. 😂 The happy ending acted like a fun twist for me, since I was waiting for murder or at least kidnapping to take place before the end. I watched too many Lifetime movies in my 20s. 😉
Loved the line when she asks him if he's "normal." That's what we all want to know about people when we meet them but we're too afraid to ask.
I think Tony has his head on straight! Very nice, Sharron!