Cheesecake Apology

This may be one of those "you had to be there" times, but I'll try to convey the spirit of the occasion. For those of you who have been following along, you may remember in "Recovery from Failure" I mentioned 4 students who went from F's to A's. I promised to take these 4 students out to dinner. It just so happened that there were two girls who were good friends and two boys who were also friends. Based on the original offer, I let them decide where we would eat, emphasizing "the sky's the limit." After extensive, prolonged, belabored discussion, the quartet announced that they would like to go to Olive Garden. Only one of them had apparently been there before, and he had done a sell-job to the other three. So, Olive Garden it was.

Perhaps I should describe the players involved a bit more to help paint the scene. Natasha was the actual "winner" whose grade had shown the most improvement. She was a petite girl with a spitfire personality and a quick wit. Next was Sheree, a quiet girl with a heart of gold. Third, Roosevelt, who has already featured in an entry, tall, dark, handsome, and wickedly funny. Finally, the surprise entry in the group, came Bobby. I don't think Bobby had ever tried to succeed in any academic endeavor before this competition. I will maintain that this experience turned his whole educational career around. Anyway, I learned on this evening that Bobby has a drive and a commitment to a "schtick" that rivals any working comic today.

So, after school, the 5 of us piled into my Honda Civic to go to Olive Garden, which was on the other side of town. The smack-talking and joking started right away. Bobby was in back with the girls, and he and Natasha were relentless in their teasing of one another. It was clear there was a beyond-friendship interest by the time we reached the restaurant.

Fortunately for the other paying patrons, the hostess seated us in a out-of-the-way corner table where we would be least likely to bother others with our silliness. And, we were silly. The kids had not been to many restaurants, and so they were very curious about everything on the menu. That meant lots of questions and funny pronunciations and, well, explanations. They weren't very experimental in what they were willing to order, so we had quite a time coming up with things for them to eat.

However, when the salad showed up, I thought they were going to kick us out. I really thought that dumb pepper was going to fly across the room. And, God help the olives. The kids went after that salad bowl with a fine tooth comb before anyone could take a bite! We were laughing so hard at the injustice of putting "foreign" food into such a basic staple. Bobby had us rolling in our chairs.

Eventually, somehow we got through the majority of the meal. We decided to all order dessert and share. Allow me to be abundantly clear. Bobby ordered the cheesecake. It was supposed to be Bobby's cheesecake. The server placed the cheesecake in front of Bobby. You know how much something can mean when it's special? That's how Bobby felt about that cheesecake. Well, a couple of cute girls walked in, and Roosevelt tried to get Bobby to check them out in a subtle way. However, Natasha caught the peek and didn't like it. So, she took her fork and took a bite (the TIP no less!) of that cheesecake! I thought we were going to lose Bobby. I really did.

Bobby turned back around, took one glance at his maimed cheesecake, and stared at a rather guilty-looking Natasha, who had a bit of cheesecake on her lip. He said, "You'd better apologize." Natasha said, "I'm sorry, Bobby." He said (and I'll never forget it), "Not to me. You'd better start apologizing to the cheesecake." Well, honestly, I don't think Natasha quite knew what to do. Bobby had a straight face. The rest of us were lost in peals of giggles, but Bobby was in apparent earnest. Now, she liked this boy and she had offended him. Now, here he was demanding that she apologize to the CHEESEcake. Believe it or not, she did!

I suppose she didn't feel like she had a choice. Either apologize or never have a chance with Bobby. At any rate, our giggles turned into full-fledged belly laughs the likes of which legends are made. When I reconnected with Roosevelt recently, one of the first things he said to me was "Remember when Bobby made Natasha apologize to that cheesecake?" I sure do. What a simple way to impact students' lives...with a good, old-fashioned laughfest.