My Birthday IV: Pizzas Treat

A few weeks ago, John SMSed me to find out if I liked cheese. Had he known I loved this dairy product to the extent of choosing it as the topic for an assignment when I was in the university, he would not have asked the question.

So, when Luke mentioned the word "pizza" in the car and we passed by Jalan Hang Tuah behind my city campus building,

I instantly got the answer for the place for our dinner--Pizza Hut.

Though they let me choose the topping of all the pizzas we ordered, the two guys still discussed about the menu in a whisper. I was wondering what extravagant tricks they were going to play.

They even gathered the younger ones to plan something without my knowledge. When they came back to the table, Albert said to me, "Later, when the thing comes, you must imagine some fire there."

During this Christmas season, the scene that appeared in my mind was a turkey being grilled on charcoal fire. However, sitting in a pizzeria, I was realistic enough not to look forward to the big bird on top of the bread.

We had moved to a round table which was cosier. The mushroom soup, cold soft drink and small pies were served first.

According to the waiter, we had to wait within seventeen minutes and a half for the pizza. While chatting and laughing, time seemed to pass very fast. The shining six-cheese Hawaiian chicken pizza, together with garlic bread, were placed in front of us not too long after we started to take the soup. I had purposely picked this popular topping to please the tastebuds of my Calvary Care Home (CCH) family members.

The two guys asked the waiter to bring a straw. When it was put on the pizza, they told me, "This is your birthday cake!" Next, they led the younger boys to stand up and sing softly the birthday version of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" to me. Albert must be reminding himself that it was not the stage to raise his alto voice to perform the caroling. As a result, we did not disturb other diners too much.

I finally understood the earlier part of the cinema. What an original idea! I liked it.

Thank God they had not requested the number of straws according to my age. Otherwise, we might have faced extra charge in the bill and the "cake" filled with "candles" would have looked like the black forest...

My newly adopted "son" Joel was very keen to feed me a piece of pizza. I wished I could be as thin as him after temporarily relieving myself from the diet I had been on since this semester break.

I forgot why these two guys were arm wrestling. But I was sure that they were not fighting to settle the bill, because I had been told that John was the boss for this treat. He contributed some of the pocket money he had earned after helping in a conference in the hotel nearby early this month. To this generous boy, I'll give him a ramen treat in future.

My birthday celebration was still going on.