Epilogue Alex
1470 Words
“I really dunno what the fuss is about,” Henry wondered allowed
while reading a food blog on his iPad, one that featured his
pizzeria and gave it rave reviews. “We’ve been servin’ the
same damn dough with the same damn sauce with the same damn ingredients
for thirty years, and this millennial writer -”
“Boris Shaw is actually sixty plus years old, Sir,” I corrected him with a
smile while I was manning the register. “I don’t think we can consider him a
millennial.”
“Yeah, whatever, you smart ass,” he dismissed my comment with
annoyance. “Anyway, this writer... he’s sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout some
wonderful changes... ‘bout some new taste... ‘bout some exciting flavors that
makes his mouth water. You have any idea what the f**k he’s blabberin’
‘bout, Alex?”
Actually, I did.
“He came in last week,” I began to explain. “He didn’t introduce himself.
Maybe he wanted to work incognito so that we won’t do anything special just
to garner a good review. But I immediately recognized who he was. So I
made some... innovative additions... to our usual flavors. I knew he’d like
them. I’ve been following his blog for years, and I had some ideas about what
he preferred. Thankfully, based on that blog post, he not only liked our
pizzas... he loved them.”
Henry nodded as he beamed with pride. “Good job, boy! I knew I didn’t
make a mistake in takin’ you in a year ago -”
“Two years ago,” I corrected him once more. Henry wasn’t really good
with dates.
“Yeah, whatever, you know-it-all. Anyway, so yeah... two years ago.
Heh! To think that you didn’t even know how to touch a damn bowl of dough
before that, eh?”
“Well, fortunately, things changed, Sir,” I told him, still grinning.
“Things changed a lot.”
“Indeed they have,” Henry acknowledged as he approached me to pat my
back. “I can still remember that day when you came back. I thought you were
beggin’ for this job. But you weren’t, eh? You actually challenged me to
offer you another shot. You basically guaranteed that you would single-
handedly make my business bigger and better.”
“And you told me to get the f**k out of your resto, Sir,” I reminded him
as I laughed.
“Yeah, I did,” Henry confirmed. “But I also saw that you had somethin’
that not many kids have. I saw that you had balls! You had palle! Grandi
palle! That’s rare, and that’s what my business needed, so I gave you a
another chance. And you didn’t blow it.”
“And I will be forever thankful for that, Sir,” I replied with all honesty.
Henry placed his hand over my shoulder while I was counting the day’s
earnings in the counter. “No, Alex. I’m the one who should be thankin’ you,”
he told me with the sincerest tone I’ve ever heard from him. “Now, finish up
with that and go home. I need ‘ya early here tomorrow for our Ferragosto
celebration. There’s two boxes of Pepperoni pizzas at the back. Some stronzo
cancelled his order. You can have ‘em. Take ‘em with you.”
“That’s very generous of you, Sir. Thank you.”
After work, I excitedly went back to the apartment.
Someone was waiting for me there. Someone who I’ve missed the whole
day.
It still surprised me whenever I’d remember that it’s been two years since
I left Greenville, two years since I’ve met Chad, two years since the awkward
and often painful moments that defined the first few weeks of our living
arrangement, two years since things got better - so much better, two years
since he made me realize what was really wrong with me - that I was unduly
pressuring myself to grow up when all I needed was to take things slow...
When all I needed was someone to take care of me while I tried to find
my place in the world.
I meant to surprise Chad with the pizzas I brought with me, but I was the
one who was shocked when I opened the door of the flat we were sharing.
He was already home, just as I expected... already comfy and settled,
garbed with nothing but his boxer shorts. He was flashing a wide grin.
Beside him, right at the foot of my bed, was something huge. It was
covered in a white blanket with a ribbon on top of it. By my estimation,
whatever was underneath that immaculate sheet had a height of at least five
and a half feet and a width of around six or seven feet.
“Wow! Just in time!” he remarked. “If you got home a few seconds
earlier, you’d have caught me wrapping this thing up.”
“Uh... what is it?” I had to ask as I placed the pizza boxes on the small
dining table in front of the fridge.
“A celebration gift,” he skittishly answered.
“A celebration gift? For me?”
“Yup.”
“But it’s not my birthday.”
“Geez. I know it ain’t your birthday. It’s a gift for you, but I’m the one
who has reason to celebrate. Alex... I got promoted!” he yelled the good
news.
“Oh! Wow! I mean... wow!” I was almost speechless. Chad’s been
working hard for that promotion for the past year. He has spent countless
sleepless nights just to finish what he called were ‘scenarios that will make
those players hate bathroom breaks.’
“Luis, my boss... he really liked the past few quest lines I’ve delivered,”
Chad narrated. “He said that they actually helped expand the game’s
subscriber base. He and the other bigwigs wanted to reward me by promoting
me to Senior Game Developer!”
“That’s amazing! Will you still be doing quest lines, though?”
“Uhm... yeah, but not as much. I’ll be handling a team, and we’ll all be
working together for some new scenarios... and other stuff... stuff which my
recent pay grade never allowed me to touch.”
“I’m... I’m so proud of you, Chad!”
“Heh. Well, I’m proud of myself too,” he cockily added. “Anyway, you
know what comes with a promotion?”
“What?”
“Higher pay! That’s why I was able to get you this thing,” he pointed at
the massive object behind him. “I had it custom-made just for you.”
“What is it?” I asked animatedly.
“Well, you can pull down the blanket if you want... but only if you
promise to be a good boy tonight.”
“Oh, I promise, I promise!” my excitement made me ramble.
“Okay, come here then.”
I did. I looked at the bulky ‘gift’ that Chad has prepared for me. Slowly, I
removed the blanket to unveil what it was.
My heart throbbed with glee and my jaw almost dropped on the floor
when I saw it.
It was a crib.
A really big crib.
One that had an area that was larger than my bed.
All of its pieces were painted with a nice shade of baby blue. The
mattress was covered with linen that had pictures of various zoo animals, an
elephant and a giraffe included, just like the ones that adorned my onesie.
It was beautiful and I couldn’t wait to hop on it!
“You like it?” Chad asked as if the the big smile on my face didn’t make
the answer obvious.
“I love it!” I answered with sheer delight as I jumped towards him. He
caught my legs with his muscular arms, carrying me with amazing ease like
he always did. I gave him a tight embrace. “Thank you, daddy!”
“Anything for my baby boy,” he said as he buried his lips on the side of
my neck, blowing hard to make a trumpet-like sound which he knew would
amuse me.
The past two years have been filled with wonderful moments like this...
moments born from how much we appreciated one another... for making each
other better... for enriching each other’s existence... for helping each other
find what we never thought was lacking in our lives....
Moments born from acceptance...
Moments born from promise...
Moments born from love...
And though I knew that there’ll be challenges that will come our way, I
was deeply comforted by the thought that we will be facing them together.
- Writer
