There was a time before Morrison’s Bar and Grill and in its place there was a Chinese buffet whose name escapes me. The best time to go and eat was either a Sunday or at night time, the price was much higher at these times but the crab legs were well worth it. So Omar and I would go at least three times a week during the summer of ninth grade. There is one particular incident involving a fortune cookie that I will never forget. This has to be one of the most ironic and funniest things that I have ever experienced.

It was a usual Sunday and we were just hanging out and enjoying our food. A man comes in that seems to be a regular guy. After around twenty minutes we noticed he started talking to himself, we thought nothing of it at first. So we just went and got more food. We waited for them to resupply the crab legs. Time after time, when it was us eating most of them anyway. We heard the man talking again, he didn’t have a Bluetooth in his ear and there was nobody with him. We found this very odd, when he got up to get food I saw both of his ears “No Bluetooth for sure” I told Omar. Omar told me “He’s still talking to himself too.”

On Sundays we stayed at the buffet for a while due to it being more expensive than any other day of the week. We stayed for another around another hour after he walked by, talking to himself the whole time. Omar said “This guy must be crazy”, right before the waiter came to bring us our check. With the check, there were fortune cookies so we cracked them open. What I saw I will never forget. Inside my fortune read “A modest man never talks to himself.” I handed it to Omar I don’t think we had ever laughed so hard in our lives.

We made sure to keep that fortune, I believe us getting must have been destiny. We split the fortune in half one piece for each of us. I had mine until last summer, on that faithful day when I went surfing with my wallet in my pocket. I may have lost my piece of the puzzle but remains with him. We both still have that memory, though, and memories mean more to me than any piece of paper ever will.