We were at CVS on a stormy Saturday evening, when Shaan
overheard a conversation between customer and cashier.
“Where is your accent from?”
asked the customer.
“I’m from Albania,” replied the cashier.
Shaan’s ears perked up.
He recognized that voice! He
looked. He recognized that person! The face was about ten years older, but it
was definitely him.
Ten years ago in college, we frequented a quintessential
pizza joint called My Brother’s Place in South Campus at Boston University. It was college, and we lived off campus, so
pizza was a staple in our diet.... even
more than it is now, if you can believe that. This place was right across the street from my
apartment, and it was delicious and—importantly—cheap.
We went to “Bro’s Place” together often my junior year. After Shaan graduated and returned to
Connecticut, we continued to go there together whenever he visited. We chatted up the pizzaiolo (man who makes
pizza) each time. He was a friendly and
outgoing guy with a distinctive accent.
He made us feel welcome.
One time, I ordered without Shaan. I thought the pizzaiolo knew us because we
were fairly recognizable as a couple, but he surprised me when he said, “Hey!
Where’s your guy?” We were
regulars.
Those were the good ol’ days, and we reminisce about good
ol’ days often. And--not to sound
creepy--but we think of that dear pizzaiolo often as well, including during our
recent trip to the birthplace of pizza – Naples, Italy.
This is why, after ten years, Shaan’s ears perked up when he
heard that distinctive accent. Could it be?!
Upon checkout, Shaan began, “I have a question for you…
about ten years ago, did you...” Before
Shaan could finish, the cashier said, “YES! YES! I thought you looked
familiar!”
As the line at the cash register began to back up, together
we reminisced about Bro’s Place. It’s a small world after all!
Also, we always assumed the pizzaiolo was Italian (wrongly,
apparently), but as it turns out he’s in fact Albanian. You learn something new every day.
