There’s a steak & lobster house in Columbus called The Top. Kandy and I go there for special occasions. It hasn’t changed since it was built in the 50’s. In Columbus, there’s are all the steak house chains big and small, but this is where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, senators, etc. would go for the best steak or lobster. It’s a small building on East Main St. The front door has a small parking area in front of it. The larger parking area leads to the side door, lovingly called the “Whore door”. This is the door that mistresses would come in to meet their married boyfriends. The last time we ate there, Laila Ali was standing next to me. This is the place I had the best dinner ever. For almost a year, every time Kandy and I would meet my sister Penny and her husband Norm; I would pick up the check. I was doing very well and they were both retired teachers. My father had three sisters. None of them got along with each other. He also had an older brother, Harry. There’s lot’s to tell about Harry, but not now other than he was a wild speculative investor. He liked stocks and land that cost pennies. He did fairly well in his lifetime and when he passed, all of his money went to his wife, Mary. No other way to say this, but, my Aunt Mary, hated women. I think she must have been jealous of many of them. She disliked all my female cousins and my sister, for absolutely no other reason than little girls will grow up to be women. When my aunt Mary passed, her lawyer sent a copy of her will to me and a check for $50,000. Kandy and I went absolutely crazy as this is the type of thing that you would only see in the movies. In her will, she states, my sister and all of my female cousins, by each of their names can’t have any of her money. I had only met this woman 3 or 4 times in my life. I really didn’t know her. But I knew it was my Uncle Harry’s money; she never earned a nickel in her life. I called my lawyer and told him I was giving my sister half the money. Because of some Ohio tax laws, I could only giver her $10,000, but Kandy could give her $10,000 and I could write a check for January 1st of the next year for $5,000. We went to the bank and got 2 cashier’s checks for $10,000 each; put them into separate envelopes and a third envelope for my check to her for $5,000. I mentioned before, I had picked up every bill for every time we went out for almost a year. I called Penny and asked if they wanted to go out for dinner. She said sure, but only if she and Norm picked up the bill. I said we would meet at the Top at 6:00 Friday night. Now, I feel the Top has the best lobster of any place I’ve ever been and the best steak. It’s all that: it’s certainly not inexpensive to eat there. Ben’s wife was out of town, so he went with us. We told Ben of our plan. The waitress came over; I ordered a shrimp cocktail (everyone had one) and a very expensive bottle of wine. We finished the wine pretty fast and ordered. My sister and her husband ordered steaks, Kandy, Ben and I ordered the biggest lobsters that had just been flown in from South Africa that day. The three of us ordered some very expensive side dishes also. Every time we ordered; mixed drinks, wine and more food, I was keeping a running track of the bill. Each time we ordered more, I could see my brother in law calculating also. By the time we ordered desert and more drinks, I felt we were around the $500 plus mark. Not bad for 5 people. They cleared the table; we sat around drinking when I told my sister that aunt Mary had passed away. She was sad that a member of the family had passed but knowing how Aunt Mary didn’t care for her, she wasn’t upset. I took out the will and showed her how she was excluded and mentioned I got some inheritance. People that love you are always happy when good things happen to you. My big sister was thrilled for Kandy and me. I told Penny that Aunt Mary giving money to only the nephews was pure BS. Penny had no idea what I inherited. I reached into my jacket pocket and handed her a cashier’s check for $10,000. She opened the envelope and started to hand it back to me. I stopped her. The waitress came over with our bill. I told her to give it to Norm. I assure you, it was the most expensive meal he ever bought. Every time we ordered more, I could see his face twitch. My sister started crying. She got up and hugged and kissed me. We sat down and I said to Norm he shouldn’t have any trouble paying this bill. He was all smiles. We were all just sitting back relaxing, slowly drinking when I said: By the way, Pen, Kandy has something for you also”. I handed her another envelope. It had the other cashier’s check for $10,000. She was totally speechless: more tears. This was, as I remember, in November. I took out the envelope with my hand written check for $5,000 dated January 1st and handed it to her. I told her it was a happy new year’s gift. I t was the best meal of my life. I always hoped it was hers. #bestmealever
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:33:28 +0000
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