Wishing for One More Escargot

A fiction post here today - very loosely based on a memory!

One of last week's Words for Wednesday word prompts reminded me of a long ago evening.  I had gone out to dinner and then to a formal dance, with some nursing friends and our dates. Escargot (the word that triggered this memory) was our dinner appetizer, and we probably did tell a few stories of our nursing experiences. Everything else about the following story is completely fictional, however, and fabricated to make use of all 12 words provided as the writing prompt!

I enjoy escargot, but I have never prepared it.  Click on the escargot link in the following story, for a recipe!  

At a French restaurant, wearing an extremely large corsage, many years ago!

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Wishing for One More Escargot

The last escargot dangled enticingly from Sheila's small fork.  Robert eyed it longingly - wishing his serving had been larger.  He was looking forward to the rest of the meal at this fancy French restaurant.  It would almost make wearing this suit worthwhile - though he far preferred the comfort of denim.

Robert and Sheila were just friends, but she had recently broken up with her boyfriend, so had asked him to accompany her this evening.  The event was a formal dance organized by and for the student nurses, and they had decided to go out to dinner first with several other couples.  He had thought it sounded fun.

Interesting may have been a better adjective.  Sheila and her two classmates had entertained their dates all evening, with tales of their hospital experiences.  The women were careful to protect the identity of patients, and at intervals the mood of the conversation had shifted from humor to empathy. Just then, Jan, the young woman sitting across the table from him, began to convulse with laughter. 

Robert began to focus on the conversation again as, through her laughter, Jan told of her first experience on night shift.  Apparently, when she had checked on a patient, she had entered his room in such a stealthy manner that he thought he was seeing a spectre!  "I didn't know it was possible for an 80-year-old man to go from supine to erect that quickly,” she giggled.  “Good thing he didn't have a heart condition. The shock could have killed him - and I would be besieged by guilt.”  

Robert practically fell off his chair, he was suddenly laughing so hard.  Jan had been completely unaware of the double entendre of her words.  Or, at least he thought so!

The waiter cleared the plates and brought the next course. This all-inclusive five course menu had turned out to be a pretty good deal, although it had seemed costly at first.  Robert noted the dandruff on the shoulders of the waiter's coat, and pitied the poor guy for the unfortunate dark color of his uniform.

Sheila's other friend, Andrea, began to give a detailed description of how a patients condition had begun to degenerate during her shift.  Losing interest, he turned to Jan's date, Mike, who had been a friend of his for years. He and Mike were soon talking about the work Mike had been doing to retrofit his car. 

The Words for Wednesday prompt used to create this story:

escargot, convulse, spectre, intervals, besieged, dandruff,OR inclusive, retrofit, supine, dangled, denim,degenerate

For fun - I decided to use all 12 words.

Have you ever eaten or cooked escargot? 

Do you have any strong memories of an occasion associated with a particular food?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!