An Excerpt from a Writing Project

From The Jazzy Island of Dinosaurs 2: The Sound of a B Flat

Caleb Grzedek did not really feel like sitting in the living room. Tonight was weird because he would normally want to play video games with his siblings. However, it was one of those days that he just didn’t want to do anything else other than make sure Andrew was starting to feel better.
And Caleb had a question to ask his parents. A very curious question. Since their dad was in the kitchen, Caleb walked over to where their dad was sitting and tried to ask him that specific question.

“Hey, Dad?” Caleb got his dad’s attention.
“Yes, son?” Mr. Grzedek replied.
“I have a question.”
“Ask away.”
“How did you meet Mom?” Caleb asked.
“Okay. So, one day, on August 1st, 1986, your mom and I were somehow in the same place at the same time in Milwaukee,” Mr. Grzedek started to explain.
“Oh? Go on.”
“It was the best restaurant in all of Milwaukee.”
“I like Milwaukee. Keep telling me what happened!”
“Would you like to know the whole story?”
“Yes, I do!”

It was August 1st, 1986. Mr. Grzedek just now got off work at a local family Christian store and decided to go with his best friends to a restaurant in downtown Milwaukee. He and his two best friends, John Shapiro and Chris DeMaine, decided to order an extra large pizza with extra mozzarella cheese and meatballs.

What a typical Friday evening for the three boys: an outing to their favorite restaurant, an extra large pizza with mozzarella cheese and meatballs, and then a walk around the neat downtown after dinner.

All three boys, who were twenty-five years old at the time, shared a very nice apartment in a nice suburb of Milwaukee. They just completed graduate school, and they thought that living near Milwaukee was the best idea ever. And so, John Grzedek, John Shapiro, and Chris DeMaine decided to go with it.

Today, John glanced at all of the girls in the restaurant. Until he came across one girl, who was not at all like the other girls that he had ever laid eyes on. He decided to himself that she was the one for him, and he was going to marry her someday. With that in mind, while waiting for their pizza, John and his two best friends walked over to her table.

“Hello,” John greeted the girl.
“Hi,” the girl replied, perhaps feeling a little uncomfortable.
“My name is John.”
“I’m Deena.”
“Are you from around here?” John asked.
“I’m from Kansas,” Deena replied.
“Would you like to join us for a journey in our meatball submarine?”
“A….what?”
“Our meatball submarine. We go into a submarine, where we find meatballs!”
“Okay.”

That was a good enough conversation with a complete stranger. John did somehow manage to get her phone number, and he told her to call him. When he and his friends walked back to their table, they had a genius idea of starting a meatball fight; they all found meatballs on random tables, so they used those. And the meatball fight was about to start….until a waiter shot a huge meatball out the glass window, and the restaurant exploded, and everyone flew into the river.

The same girl whom John had talked to earlier had decided to swim in his general direction, since everyone was now afloat in the water. Amidst all of the falling meteorites that were now balls of bacon, the environment surrounding the entire population was peaceful.

“Hey, girl,” John greeted her again with a wink.
“Hi,” Deena replied, just as simply as before.
“So, what are you doing here in Milwaukee, if you’re from Kansas?”
“I’m visiting my sister.”
“Does she live here?” John asked.
“For now. She was offered an internship for music administration,” Deena said.
“Interesting.”
“So, did you want to set up a date with me some time?”
“I thought you’d never ask! Four o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the bacon and meatball factory?”
“Sounds good to me!”

And John knew that he had already found the girl whom he was going to marry. He just knew things were going to happen for the better. And John had decided to call a date at the bacon and meatball factory for the following afternoon.

“That wasn’t what happened, was it?” Caleb asked his dad, with a lot of doubt in his tone.
“It really happened, I swear!” Mr. Grzedek replied with a grin.
“A bacon meteorite?!”
“Yes. It happened!”
“I didn’t know how much you loved bacon and meatballs!” Caleb exclaimed.
“Well, I do,” Mr. Grzedek responded with an even bigger grin.
“So, you were about to start a meatball fight, and a meatball thrown by the waiter broke through a window?”
“Inevitably.”
“So, it was that. And, when you were in the river, there were meteorites?”
“From what I remember.”

Caleb still didn’t quite believe what his dad said. He thought that his dad was making more of a joke out of it than he was trying to be serious. And, it was pretty obvious that he was not all that honest about how he and his wife met. Andrew had asked the exact same question to both parents when he was thirteen, or two years ago, or in 2004. At the end of the story, Andrew actually laughed at the response that his dad had given him.

When Caleb found their mom coming out of Andrew’s bedroom, he asked her the exact same question that he had asked their dad earlier. And he thought that their mom was going to give him a more honest answer than the silly response that his dad gave him.

“Mom?” Caleb got his mom’s attention.
“Yeah?” Mrs. Grzedek responded.
“How did you meet Dad?”
“Oh, did your dad tell you a silly story about how we met?”
“Kind of. I wasn’t sure of everything that he said,” Caleb replied.
“Did he use his meatball story again?” Mrs. Grzedek asked her son, shaking her head from a great sense of amusement.
“Yeah.”
“He always likes to joke about meatballs and how we met.”
“I figured. Could you tell me how you met?”
“I’d love to.”

It was August 1st, 1986. Deena Johnson was visiting her older sister, Lisa, in Milwaukee. She went to a good restaurant in downtown with her parents, Lisa, and her younger sister, Christine. The family just came back from a band concert that Lisa participated in, and they were going to celebrate Lisa’s success by going to her favorite restaurant in Milwaukee.

All five of them were sitting quietly, enjoying the scenery that was surrounding them. The whole Johnson family really enjoyed themselves in Milwaukee so far, and they were glad that they had a few days to spend here.

After a waitress came to their table and took their orders, Deena noticed that there was a young man who continued to glance in her general direction. Not quite sure what he actually meant by his continuous glances, she chose to ignore it. Deena thought that it was someone from Milwaukee who thought she was cute, but he knew that he would never have an opportunity with her. Deena was from Kansas, and this person was most likely from around here.

But, all of a sudden, the same person and his two best friends walked over to her table so that they could make conversation with her in some way or another. They were either going to try to be silly, or the one young man would make an attempt to create a serious relationship with her.

“Hello,” the boy greeted Deena.
“Hi,” she replied, perhaps feeling a little uncomfortable.
“My name is John.”
“I’m Deena.”
“Are you from around here?” John asked.
“I’m from Kansas,” Deena replied.
“Would you like to go on a date with me some time?”
“A date?”
“Yeah. You know, a date. While you’re still in the Milwaukee area.”
“Okay.”

That was a good conversation with a complete stranger. John did somehow manage to get her phone number, and he told her to call him. At first, Deena decided to shake her head and laugh to herself about the situation that she was just in. With three complete strangers.

This could not be happening.

And then, she thought. That boy was actually pretty cute. Even though he made it sound as if she was the one who he was going to marry. Deena thought that it would be a good idea to give it a try. And that was what she did. She walked back to the boys’ table to make another conversation with them. Primarily John, though.

“Hey, girl,” John greeted her again with a wink.
“Hi,” Deena replied, just as simply as before.
“So, what are you doing here in Milwaukee, if you’re from Kansas?”
“I’m visiting my sister.”
“Does she live here?” John asked.
“For now. She was offered an internship for music administration,” Deena said.
“Interesting.”
“So, did you want to set up a date with me some time?”
“I thought you’d never ask! Four o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the river walk?”
“Sounds good to me!”

​And, before Deena knew it, she had a date set up with a young man who may or may not eventually become her boyfriend, her fiancé, and her husband.

“That was what happened, right?” Caleb asked his mom.
“Yes,” Mrs. Grzedek replied.
“So, there was no such thing as a meatball fight and a bacon and meatball meteorite show?”
“Absolutely not. Your dad made it all up.”
“He does have a good sense of humor,” Caleb said matter-of-factly.
“He does, but if he told Alyssa the same thing he told you, she’d believe everything he told her,” Mrs. Grzedek answered.
“Well, she’s only six years old.”
“And she’s so gullible.”
“But she’s cute.”
“Yes, she is.”