Remember

“Hey Tone, is this about the guy in booth three?” Carmine’s smile, when he heard his boss’ grunt indicated that Carmie—everybody called the pastry chef that—knew something about the mystery man.

“Yeah, do you know who he is, Carmie?”

“Not really, but I think he knows you.”

Tony looked at the pastry chef, eyes wide and penetrating, jerking his head slightly down-up, down-up three or four times, waiting for more information. “I was setting out the crullers when he came in and mentioned your name to Vito, so I purposely took longer arranging the display shelves to hear what the guy was saying about you.”

Romano looked again at the stranger in Vito’s coffee shop. “And what did you hear?”

“Basically that he has an important message for you that’s important.”

Anthony snorted at the unnecessary repetition in Carmine’s words. “You know you’re repeating yourself, don’t you?”

“So what? This ain’t no grammar class and you ain’t doin’ your professor thing on me; trash the grammar lesson and go talk to the guy like Vito said. You’ll find out who he is, how he knows you, and why he’s here looking for you. As for me, I must leave you now Tone, so in the words of Portuguese fishermen, ‘Yaya Contata’ or is it ‘Vaya Condelta? Vaya Consuela’ maybe, or some such thing? Who cares! Gotta run and take my buns out of the oven.” Carmine laughed, “I just love saying that” then disappeared through the swinging doors of Vito’s kitchen. It was time for some answers and Anthony walked over to the booth where the stranger had been sitting, but was now standing to greet him.

“I overheard your conversation with the coffee shop owner and apologize for the confusion I created for you Anthony; showing up unannounced, telling your friends I wished to speak with you about an important matter must be exasperating, to be sure.”

“Yeah, a little. I assume you’ve had similar information deficit experiences with people you’ve met who knew—to quote pastry chef Carmine—‘a lot about you’ while you knew much less about them.”

“No, that has never happened to me, Anthony, nor will it ever happen.”

The stranger realized he had said too much when Tony’s face contorted at “has never happened, nor will it ever happen.”

“I’m a little confused Mr.—

“And again I am responsible for your confusion, so let me go back and start at the very beginning.”

“Which is, as I’ve heard Julie Andrews sing, ‘a very good place to start’”!

“Yes.” The man laughed and extended his hand across the table for a more formal meeting with Anthony. “Julie Andrews was superb as Maria in The Sound of Music and her voice was magnificent—I’d even say, angelic. Good to meet you, Anthony; I am Gabe, but there are many who call me G.”

“G? Really? I don’t know if that’s rude, presumptuous or both. Why would anyone use the first letter in your name instead of the name itself when speaking with you?”

“I’m not sure, but for the record, did you not at the age of sixteen refer to a new boy in your neighborhood with the first letter of his last name whenever you spoke with him, a letter which, coincidentally, was also G?”

“Yes, but that was—wait! How did—? Wait a minute! You’re referring to Frankie G, and you’re reminding me of something I did in my life twenty-four years ago? Did we just step into the Twilight Zone and what’s happening now has nothing to do with reality? Am I dreaming and will shortly awaken to the sound of Josh Groban’s, ‘You raise me up’ on my alarm clock? Is this an elaborate Thanksgiving joke playing out for my benefit as we speak? No! Of course not! Still, this morning has become majorly goofy with—I gotta say it Gabe—a capital G!”

Anthony and G laughed without restraint, bringing Vito out of the kitchen and over to their table.

“So, what does all the laughter mean? The two of you really do know each other from way back, and just now, Tony, you remembered that you did?”

“Nothing like that Vito. This gentleman is still a mystery for me, yet in some way he possesses very specific knowledge about me. Knowledge dating back two decades, at least, that he was just about to explain. Now, Vito, you have as much information about this moment in time as I do, but once G here explains everything to me, which, as I just said, he is about to do, I’ll fill you in. Until then, however, we will continue to float around in the Twilight Zone or whatever this place we are now occupying is called.”

Vito responded. “This place we are now occupying is called Vito’s Coffee Place, not Vito’s Twilight Zone Coffee Place. And I expect to hear the entire weird story that brought the two of you together today once you figure out how to remember it, or G manages to tell it, since he seems to be the only one who has any knowledge of what’s going on.”

They all laughed as Anthony rose out of his seat and raised his coffee mug. “Here, here! We drink to Vito who sees clearly through the quagmire that has sucked us down into horrendous confusion; we drink also to G whose lucid explanation will shortly raise us up to higher, solid ground and perfect understanding.”

Vito joined the toasting; “And as owner of this establishment, I’ll drink to both proposals, then quickly seek refuge in my kitchen once more, before the madness that seems to exist in both your minds, infiltrates any deeper into mine.”