Someone shared this on another group. If You have more recommendations keep adding to the list
100 Must Eat Delicacies in Mangalore : 😋😋

1. Kingfish, Seerfish Masala Fry. (Giri Manja's, Lower Car street)
   
2. Crab Ghee Roast, Kane Masala Fry, Pachile Ghee Roast ( Shetty Lunch Home, Balmatta )
   
3. Pomfret Tawa Fry , Fish thali, squid Ghee Roast (Machali, Behind Ocean Pearl)
   
4. Gudbud, Parfait, Tiramisu, Chocolate Dad. (Pabbas, Ideal Ice Creams, MG road)
   
5. Tender Coconut and Malai Ice cream (Naturals Ice Cream, Mannagudda)
   
6. Sizzling Pepper Chicken Sizzler, Chicken Dip Chilli. (Chefs Mannagudda)
   
7. Special Andhra Style Biryani, Chicken Leg Roast. Spicy Andhra Meals. (Andhra House. Bejai)
   
8. Unlimited Gujarati Meal. (Gujrati hotel. Bhavanti Street)
   
9. King Fish Pudi Tawa, Lady fish Fry. (Narayan Hotel. Bunder)
   
10. Chinese Bhel Puri, Sev Puri (Outside Swimming Pool)
    
11. Mutton Biryani, Chicken Dry Fry, Bheja Fry (Bombay Lucky , Bunder Road)
    
12. Goli Baje, Puri Kurma (Hotel Woodlands, Bunts hostel)
    
13. Chicken Uruval, Chicken Green roast (Hotel Maya International)
    
14. Chicken Kheema Rice, Chicken Nuggets, Chicken Thai Curry Rice (Froth on top, Balmatta)
    
15. Chicken Dum Biryani, Tangdi Kabab (Hotel Diners Paradise)
    
16. Dragon Rice, Chicken Thai Fry (Rai's Hot dragon Kadri)
    
17. Nati Chicken Sukka, (Hotel Ramabhavan , near Mangalore club )
    
18. Boiled Charmuri, Sev puri (Seetanna's, Lighthouse hill)
    
19. Kori rotti, Nati Kori curry (Kori Rotti, MG road)
    
20. Samosa, Bread Sandwich Pakoda ( Juice Junction, Balmatta)
    
21. Chicken Kabab, Mutton Boaty (Sundaranna, Mannagudda)
    
22. Cheese Sandwich, Plain Sandwich (Opposite Easyday attavar)
    
23. Tuppa Dosa, Rotti Chutney, Idli Tove, Filter Coffee (Taj Mahal Cafe, Navbharath circle)
    
24. Some like it hot (Chocolate Ice cream with cake). (Cherry square, Balmatta)
    
25. Charmuri, Raja Special (Kamath Condiments, Car street)
    
26. Spicy Chicken Shwarma (Danish, Light house hill)
    
27. Chicken Rottessirie, full grill (Pop Tate's, Balmatta)
    
28. Butter Nan, Paneer Butter Masala, Lassi (Bittu da dabha)
    
29. Rasam Vada, Spring Onion dosa (Janatha Deluxe, Pathmudi)
    
30. Egg Chilli, Egg Omlet, Boiled Charmuri ( Forum Fiza Mall, Entrance)
    
31. Masala Pav, Special Soft ice cream (Hangyo saibin complex )
    
32. Veg sandwich and cheese sandwich ( saibeen complex basement)
    
33. Chicken Satay, Peking chicken dry, Shin Min Rice (Hao Ming)
    
34. Triple Schezwan Fried Rice with Bulls eye topping (Amazon, Empire)
    
35. Maddur Vada ( Hotel Durgaprasad, Urva Market)
    
36. Lady fish(Kane fry) GSB style fish curries ( Opposite CV Nayak Hall, Bunts Hostel)
    
37. Bajil, Sajjige. Sheera (Hotel Indrabhavan, Balmatta)
    
38. Special Charmuri, Chakkuli Masala (Sukrundo's near School book company, Car street)
    
39. Bhel Puri, Chole Samosa, Jelebi (Krishna Bhel Puri, Market road)
    
40. Masala Dosa, Bisi Bele bath. Khara bhat (Vasudev Adigas, forum)
    
41. Macarons, Ragi biscuits. (City Bakery, Hampankatta)
    
42. Biscuit Rotti, Cabbage Bonda, Buns (Balli's, Car street)
    
43. Ghee Roast rice, Fusili pasta with Chicken and Mushroom (Liquid Lounge)
    
44. Matka Biryani (Biryani Paradise, Near city hospital)
    
45. Full Meat Shwarma, Grilled Chicken (Juice romantic)
    
46. Prawns/ Bondas Pepper fry (Fooodlands MG road)
    
47. Chicken Butter Garlic, Chicken Tawa fry (Wine Gate)
    
48. Paneer Ghee Roast, Hara Bara Kabab (Chutney, Deepa comforts)
    
49. Chicken Lollypop ,Anjal Puli Munchi with Appam (Simbly South, Balmatta)
    

50.Set Dosa, Chikku Sheera, Mushroom Biryani (Anmol, Bejai)

1. Egg cheese toast (Mangalore club)
   
2. Bonda Shake (Below guthu restaurant, Falnir)
   
3. Paper Masala Dosa, Paneer Pepper, Floating Grape Juice (Dinky Dine)
   
4. Sizzling Special Spinach, Oreo shake (Pallkhi)
   
5. Kerala Paratha, Chicken wet Gravy. Murgh Lajawab (Chicken Tikka Halal)
   
6. Pista and badam Milk (Rajalaxmi chat, Car street)
   
7. Grape Jelebi, Mastani Flooda ( hotel ayodhya)
   
8. Ladyfish Tawa fry (Hotel Anupam)
   
9. Gobi Manchurian, Mix Veg Fried Rice (Nandini Veg fast food, Car street)
   
10. Buns, Puri Bhaji (3-5 am) Mobile Canteen (infront of KMC hospital, Jyothi)
    
11. Jolada Rotti. Ragi rotti and North Karnataka style curry ( Near Vinayaka book house, mannagudda)
    
12. Pahadi Chicken, Chicken Junglee (Cellar Restaurant)
    
13. KFC Chicken Burger (Prax, near Arya Samaj Road)
    
14. Plain Dosa, Goli Baje, Tea (Vishwa Bhavan, Balmatta)
    
15. Omelette Chilli (Coconut Groove)
    
16. Chocolate Pizza, Crab meat soup, Lemon Tea (Trattoria)
    
17. Mixed Fruit Juice, Watermelon Juice, (Vinay Juice Centre, Near City Centre)
    
18. Pure Veg Udupi Veg Meals, (Rama Hotel, Near PVS)
    
19. Jain Style Meals without onion and garlic (Jain Restaurant, near state bank bus stop)
    
20. Veg Paneer Roll, Champakali (Ramdev sweets, Near City Centre)
    
21. Reasonable Veg North Indian Mini Thali (Janath deluxe, Behind Shaan plaza, Near City Centre)
    
22. Egg Uruval, Egg Friend Rice (Suvarna, Mannagudda)
    
23. Babycorn Deep fry. Fried chillies (Kusum Foods, Lower car street)
    
24. Chicken Reshmi Kabab, Hyderabadi Dum Biryani (Spicy) - (Hotel Suraj international, Suratkal)
    
25. Egg Omelette (S.R Bhandary, Mannagudda)
    
26. Spicy Chicken Special Roll ( Mother's Kitchen, Night home delivery)
    
27. Tuppa Dosa, Rimjim 3 layered coffee, (Hotel Karthik, Kottara)
    
28. Chocolate Brownie, Red Velvet Cake (Crave ,Balmatta)
    
29. Veg Burger, Veg Pizza (Reasonable prices) (Hangyo outlet MG road)
    
30. Chicken Tawa fry, Chicken Special Biryani (Red Rock, Suratkal)
    
31. Wimto, Lime Soda, Flavoured Soda's (Next to SVT, Car street)
    
32. Mini Veg Puffs, Saturday Special (Vignesh Bakery, Mannagudda)
    
33. Jalapeño Cheese Balls, Vegetable Sizzler (Sizzler Ranch)
    
34. Pancakes, Sunny Side up, Chicken Sausages for breakfast (Diesel Cafe)
    
35. Almond Rock, Pista kulfi, Rose Bites (Tiny Delights, Home delivery, Kadri)
    
36. Chicken Biryani. Egg curry (Mookambika, Urva Market)
    
37. Samosa Chat (Rasadhara, Opposite Canara urva)
    
38. Orange and Pineapple Traditional Goli Soda (Ram Stores, Mannagudda)
    
39. Double Decker Burger, Xinlai dragon rice, Chicken Kwathiyo and Footlongs (Chefs Xinlai)
    
40. Chicken Kalmi Kabab (New Kudla, Urva Market)
    
41. Veg Cutlet. Paneer Ghee Roast, Sandwich Combo (Ideal Cafe, Hampankatta)
    
42. Mini Jelebi, Murgh/Rogan Ghosth, Mini Punjab's pind.
    
43. Hot Crispy Buns, Neer Dosa and chutney (Midnight canteen, Right ahead of Railway station entrance. hampankatta)
    
44. Dali Tove. Chicken Ghee Roast, Boiled rice (Hotel Maharaja)
    
45. Crispy Chicken, Chicken Lollypop (Kavita Residency)
    
46. Veg and Nonveg Kolkata Rolls (Smackie, Near Kottara Flyover)
    
47. Ghee Roast, chicken, Prawn, squid , Paneer Anupam Shetty Lunch Home Balmatta )
    
48. Garlic Chicken, Chicken Chilli dry (Highwave SLK)
    
49. Bun Butter Lays (Railways Station canteen, State bank)
    
50. Disco Fish Tawa Fry (New Abhishek, Kottara)
    

Hello everyone…
What are the best outlet shopping malls around Geneva? Something that i can reach via bus/train, with good discounts on international brands, and verity of stores …
Thanks

You know what the Capital Region needs more of? Strip malls, outlet stores and more car dealerships!! This will solve all our problems. Also let’s rip up all the sidewalks and bike paths too. Eff you people not driving a F150 Super Douchebag pickup!!

148 park drive 78666. Saturday June 1st, 8am-1pm. They’ll have a bunch of different stuff, and it’ll be cheap.
Older relatives wanted me to share this. Please delete if it is not appropriate.

Looking at going Sept 13-16. We trying to.decide between the flamingo and Excalibur. Any advice on which one? Is the Ceasars buffet worth it for 85$ or is there others just as good at a lower price. How is the weather at this time? Will the pools still be a good time? Things we are looking at doing
-Absinthe show -sphere show -punk rock museum -outlet mall
Any other suggestions are welcome. We are not gamblers, social drinkers. Can Canadians purchase weed from the dispensaries?

Anna Garcia’s story involving Cedar Point made me Laugh. I’m from Ohio, I live in a town neighboring Sandusky and to see Grant and Anna absolutely lose their minds about Cedar Point just made me chuckle. It’s just such a common thing for us locals that I forget the excitement others must get about experiencing those rides. But they are both right, those lines are insane anymore and she definitely made the right move to not stop or slow down their drive to get there on time. It was nice to hear a little shoutout to Ohio. Usually Ohio just gets a bad rap.

I was in the Gucci outlet at the Outlet Mall in Florence last week. I spotted a set that I regret not buying.
It had the classic GG print, and it was red. I believe it was a cropped top with little shorts or a skirt. I believe it was a crepe/cavas or silk material. The red was very vibrate.
Any thoughts? I've been searching all day and can't seem to find anything like what I saw.

I've been building a copypasta to spam whenever people bring up conservative terrorism or claim something about the "tolerant left".
Rules: I want the list to be focused on America only, be domestic terrorists only, and start from the year 2016 when Trump took office.
Also, feel free to use and spread it as much as you want.
The list:
The Portland train attack (2016)
The tiki torch "the Jews will no replace us" Nazi attack in Charlottesville, killing Heather Heyer (2017)
The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting mirroring the Christchurch one (2018)
The "MAGAbomber" mail bomber (2018)
Man drove a truck through a Planned Parenthood in East Orange, New Jersey (2018)
Parkland High School shooting (2018)
The Poway synagogue shooting also mirrored the Christchurch one (2019)
The El Paso Walmart shooting that targeted Hispanic people (2019)
Firebombing of a Planned Parenthood in Columbia, Missouri (2019)
The "Boogaloo" attacks in California (2020)
Arizona DNC office arson attempt (2020)
Another firebombing of a Planned Parenthood in Newark, Deleware (2020)
Another firebombing of a Planned Parenthood in Fort Meyers, Florida. He got 1 year in prison. (2020)
Biden campaign bus chased and attacked. Police refused to protect them. (2020)
Texas DNC office arson attempt (2021)
Jan 6th insurrection/putsch (2021)
A man shot at a Planned Parenthood in Tennesee (2021)
A Planned Parenthood in Knoxville, Tennesee was burned to the ground by a J6 terrorist (2021)
Oxford High School shooting (2021)
Arson attack on a donut shop because of drag queens (2022)
Man shoots into a BLM protest outside of his apartment in Portland (2022)
Shooting six substations in Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina in two days (2022)
Buffalo grocery store shooting targetting black people (2022)
Armed Patriot Front members arrested in UHaul before they could reach a Pride event (2022)
California store owner shot and killed after a man tore her Pride flag down (2022)
Nancy Pelosi's house invasion that hospitalized her husband (2022)
A Planned Parenthood was set on fire in Casper, Wyoming (2022)
A man set Planned Parenthood on fire in Kalamazoo, Michigan (2022)
The Texas outlet mall shooting that targeted Hispanic people (2023)
Arson attack on church because of drag queens (2023)
A Planned Parenthood was set on fire in Peoria, Illinois (2023)
A Planned Parenthood In Danville, Illinois was attacked by someone ramming their truck into the building, with the truck filled with barrels of gasoline (2023)
A Planned Parenthood was shot at in Helena, Montana (2023)
Attack on Bernie Sanders's campaign office (2024)
And this doesn't cover the magnitudes of bomb threats children's hospitals, schools, and public libraries are getting because of people like Chaya Raichik, Matt Walsh, and other media personalities.

I won't go into the details cuz it gets political and preachy (probably not in the way you think) - but I haven't purchased anything new, or used from a retailer, from China in about 4-5 years.
One huge drawback has been fireworks. I lived near Philly, and now in Columbus Ohio, and around the 4th ALL the fireworks have made in china slapped on em at every fireworks outlet.
Does anyone know a place or brand that ISN'T made in china so I can get some for the upcoming 4th? Thanks!

For instance, when I was a security guard, I loved to work in Retail shopping centers (Large Malls/Premium Outlets). I took a job at a 55+ apartment building and left within the month.
I would hate to just sit in a booth or at a security desk for an entire shift.

I’m sitting in a booth at a roadside restaurant named Hank’s Diner. There is no actual Hank. The Hank who named this place after himself sold it off years ago, retired, and died. Now it belongs to someone named Sid, but he didn’t want to name it Sid’s Diner, so he left Hank’s name there. It’s a bit morbid to eat at a dead guy’s diner, but here we are.
The seat cushions in this booth are red and squishy but also brown and stiff in some places. The material is cracked and the foam insides exposed like gaping wounds. Speaking of morbid, yeesh. The only way I can get my butt comfortable is by sitting with one leg crossed beneath me. Outside, the night overwhelms everything. I take a sip of an off-brand Dr. Pepper soda to try to settle my tummy which is currently doing cartwheels in my chest cavity..
The waitress approaches me in a pink checkered uniform with a white apron that’s got yellow grease splotches all over it. Her name is Glynnis Welch, no relation to my arch-enemy Lisa Welch. Glynnis is a mother of two, grandmother of two, has been married twice, divorced twice, and has two cats at home in her apartment, which is --surprisingly-- not on the second floor of her apartment building. But she was born in February. I find her fascinating. I wonder how much of her life is defined by the number two?
“Where’d your father go?” Glynnis asks me. She does not find me equally fascinating. The only thing Glynnis finds fascinating is how big of a tip she’s going to get.
The “father” she is referring to is Dutch, who excused himself just five minutes ago to use the bathroom. She’s worried we’re going to stiff her on the check. Neither of us looks like we’re exactly rolling in dough. If anything, we look like we roll in mud like that Peanuts character, Pigpen. Some of this mud on me is actually blood, but Glynnis doesn’t need to know that.
“He’s in the bathroom,” I jab my thumb in the direction of their restrooms. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t leave without paying.”
Her face turns red, a response to being called out on her concerns about us dining and dashing. “I wasn’t thinking that, hon,” she lies. Her eyes survey the landscape of our table, trying to find anything to use to change the subject. Her attention eventually finds its way to my head. “That’s a cute headband.”
“It’s my Rambo band.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She wants to walk away from this conversation. What is with this weird, dirty-looking, little girl sipping her Mr. Pibb in the middle of the night when she should be in bed, dreaming of homework and cartoons about wacky, talking animals? Glynnis could be talking to the guy working the grill in the back of the diner instead of to me. His name is Bartholemew. He insists on being called by his full name because he doesn’t want to be associated with the Simpsons’ character, who he finds annoying. Glynnis and Bartholemew get along like peanut butter and chocolate. Or is it chocolate and peanut butter?
Glynnis takes a couple dishes away with a mumbled, “I’ll be back,” nonchalantly turning Dutch’s plate over, and marveling at how polished and clean it is as she walks away. The guy ate like he never had a cooked meal before. The truth is, he was trained to feed that way in the military. Take what you want but eat what you take. My Nana used to say that too. It’s a generational thing.
“Lily.”
A shadow slides into the booth seat across from me in the spot Dutch was in minutes ago. I look up to see a man staring at me. It takes me a moment to recognize Nathaniel. His face is paler than I remember it being before, and his eyes have big, dark circles around them like his whole face is turning into a giant bruise. Nate smiles at me, but there’s sadness behind it, and pain. I’m just impressed he’s up and about considering not that long ago he was split up the middle like a human wishbone. I wonder if they found a flesh-stitcher to speed up his recovery.
“It’s Alex now,” I tell him.
He nods. “Right, sorry.” He reaches into his big trench coat and pulls out a stack of thin, tan books with my old name written in cursive. “I believe these belong to you.”
My jaw almost hits the table. “No way!” I grab my journals and clutch them to my chest. I had just assumed that they were going to be lost forever. Maybe buried with my other body, which is going to be buried next to Mom and Dad and Roger in the Madwhip family plot.
Nate’s smile broadens ever so slightly. He cinches his coat closed and glances around. “Your friend Detective Gumby had them.”
I snort out a laugh at him using Detective Guthrie’s nickname I gave him by accident.
“Is he going to be looking for them?”
“No, he gave them to me willingly,” Nate says, taking a moment to clear his throat. “I may have given him the impression that I was an officer of the law and was going to be placing them in evidence.”
“Looking like that?” I ask in disbelief. Maybe Guthrie isn’t as great of a detective as I thought he was.
Now it’s Nate’s turn to snort-laugh. “I applied a bit of a glamor with the help of one of the remaining dreamkind.” He can tell I have no idea what he’s saying. “That’s like an illusion.”
Glynnis eyeballs us from the kitchen. She’s wondering who this strange man is talking to the underage girl in her establishment this late at night. Is my father going to come back from the bathroom in time to keep her safe? Does Bartholemew need to get that Louisville slugger he keeps by the freezer door? Should she call the cops?
I smile and wave to her. She immediately snaps out of her trance and turns away, saying something to Bartholemew that I can’t hear.
Nate coughs again. It sounds dry and scratchy. The napkin I left sticking out from under my bowl sizzles and turns black around the edges. I pluck an ice cube out of my drink and rub it over the napkin to keep it from catching fire.
“Sorry about that,” Nate says bashfully. He rubs the tips of his thumbs against his other fingers. “I’m still not at a hundred percent.”
“Then why are you here?” I ask, “Why have they got you running around fetching my journals for me? You should be in bed, sipping on a hot bowl of soup or I don’t know, in the freaking emergency ward?”
“Azrael said the same thing, but I volunteered. I wanted to be the one to do this for you.”
“But why?”
Nate’s smile twitches at the edges. His eyes get that misty look an adult’s eyes get when they’re trying not to cry. “Because I wanted to say thank you.”
“Thank you? I mean thank me?”
“For finding Meredith and getting her home. You’re a good friend.” He pauses. “You’re a good person.”
His words feel like a dagger in my heart. I look down at my roasted napkin and mindlessly play with the melting ice cube. “But everything that happened to her... it was all my fault,” I remind him.
“No, it’s not.” He reaches across the table and touches my hand. His fingers are really warm. Like ridiculously warm. Unnaturally warm. For a second my mind instinctively tries to jerk my hand away to prevent getting burned, but through sheer force of will, I don’t let it. “I can’t make you not believe that, but you should know that Meredith doesn’t. Isn’t that what really matters? Nobody else does either. We know... Samael caused all of this.”
I’m sure he believes that. Paschar believes it too. But I don’t believe it. Only some things were caused by Samael’s actions, but many things were caused by my own. I have to take responsibility for the things I do, especially when they cause harm to others. I don’t say this though, I just shrug. No sense in arguing with someone who is dead set on trying to cheer me up.
I casually flip open the top journal and reread a few entries I wrote weeks ago, back when the world still made sense. I don’t always get to write things in the moment, so I try to make sure to jot stuff down that happens to me when I’m able. Sometimes that leads to me getting details wrong because I write about them so much later, like my first jaunt into the Veil two years ago. What a pain in the ass it was to recall everything that happened and get that all written down after the fact.
Wait, someone else wrote something after my most recent entry. It’s in sloppy, cursive handwriting. I can barely read parts of it.
I joined the police force to protect those who could not protect themselves, to bring justice for those who are wronged, and to ensure the safety of all. I wanted my son to grow up in a world where he felt safe because he knew I was looking out for him. I admit that over the years it has been a struggle to not feel jaded by witnessing the harm that people do to one another. Violence, cruelty, abuse, and abandonment are choices people make. There are no accidents. Despite it all, I’ve always tried to reject the normalizing of evil.
A child died this week. It happened so violently and suddenly that I doubt she even felt it. But I felt it. I was there when it happened. I couldn’t save her; I could only avenge her. I shouldn’t say that. The killer had a gun. I shot him for my own safety. I shot him as much out of fear as out of rage. Christ, you’d think I was a rookie for letting myself get attached to a victim.
Her name was Lily. She was sad and dark and lonely. I knew her because I was the lead investigator into the death of her parents a couple years prior. Everyone that knew Lily seemed to die in horrible accidents. Her brother, her parents, her pets, her friends, even her foster family. It was like she was a walking curse, and she knew it. I can’t imagine living with that, the knowledge that anyone who gets close to you will suffer. Maybe that’s why she pushed me away when I tried to reach out to her.
I can’t help but wonder if she wanted to die. I shouldn’t think about it, and yet it eats at me. It always seemed to me that she danced on the edge of a razor, daring the world to make her bleed until finally it did. The man who killed her had a history of violence and should never have been allowed around children. How he got a job at a traveling carnival that caters to families is a mystery I hope I solve one day. Someone put him on that field, gave him that gun, and pointed him at a twelve-year-old girl.
Despite the tragedy, I do find a glimmer of hope in all this. Lily believed in something beyond her life. I’ve been skimming through these journals in which she wrote about strange experiences with angelic beings, walking in a realm of death and pure imagination, battling powerful enemies like she was some sort of fantasy heroine. As fantastic as it all was, what truly sold it was her absolute belief in everything she described. As far as I can tell, Lily was never diagnosed with any sort of mental disorder. Maybe it was all a coping mechanism for dealing with the constant death that seemed to follow her.
The thing is, she was so persuasive in her fantasy world that I almost believed in it myself at times. She actually sold me on the notion that she knew the future, that she talked to angels and the dead. I’m a grown man, someone who knows what is real and what isn’t, and yet she had me questioning the reality I know to be true. She was a unique soul, that little girl. Maybe that’s why I’m so shaken by her death. If I believe the things she told me about the world beyond, shouldn’t I be happy for her?
Something bothers me though. For starters, Lily had a doll. Every time I saw her, she had it with her. In her journals, she talked about it as if it was an angel, or some sort of walkie-talkie that let her speak directly to them. I’ve looked for it. It wasn’t on her when she died. I’ve been unable to find it. Did someone else take it? Who has the doll and what are they going to do with it? I’m probably being ridiculous. After all, a doll is just a doll. But she had me believe in its power once, who knows who else she may have convinced?
The entry goes on for another paragraph but it’s most unreadable. I’ve heard that some grown-ups have a special kind of writing that makes sense to them and nobody else, kind of like Morse code only nobody but you can read it.
“Detective Guthrie wrote in my journal.” I look up. Nate’s gone. He didn’t even say goodbye. It’s just me and Glynnis in the otherwise empty restaurant. Bartholomew in the kitchen of course, and Dutch in the toilet. Not the toilet itself, I mean the toilet room. The restroom. I don’t know why they call it a restroom though, since nobody really uses it to rest. If I go in a place called a restroom, I expect there to be couches to lie down on and maybe some elevator music to put you to sleep. Not some stinky bathroom that a dozen other people have used and left their germs all over.
Glynnis comes back over, reluctantly. “Friend of yours?” she asks me. She’s talking about Nathaniel.
“Maybe.” I stare at her. She has no idea how good I am at staring.
She stares back. She loses.
“Just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Your father is taking a while, huh?” She looks out the big window at Dutch’s beat-up, old truck that we arrived in. What she’s really making sure is that he isn’t sitting in it, ready to start the engine.
As if he heard her, Dutch finally comes out of the bathroom. Both of his hands are dripping wet. The blow-dryer in the men’s room is on the fritz. He slides into the booth across from me, frowns for the briefest of seconds as he notices Nathaniel’s lingering butt warmth, then looks at the waitress and me and mutters ”sorry" to nobody specific.
Glynnis takes it to be directed at her and she shrugs. “We thought maybe you fell in,” she offers with a half-hearted chuckle.
“No, we didn’t,” I tell Dutch. I don’t need him thinking I’m speculating on his bathroom activities with some strange lady. I don’t want our relationship starting off like that. He needs to know he can trust me not to talk about him when he isn’t around. Trust. It’s going to be life or death for us both.
Glynnis’s face turns red again. She gives me a quick frown and starts to stutter something, then twitches and her fake smile returns. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Just the check, please, ma’am.” Dutch says, wiping his wet hands on the paper napkins that came with our meal. He looks at me, gives a head nod in the direction he just came from, and asks, “Did you need to go before we head out?”
“Yes,” I lie, and then gather up my pile of journals and hurry-walk to the other restroom, leaving the two of them to handle the bill. I don’t have to go. I just need a moment alone with my books.
As I predicted, the bathroom smells. There’s a lavender air freshener on one of the sinks and it adds a nauseating aroma to the mix of odors. I go into the farthest stall, just in case Glynnis comes in, but in my mind, I know she won’t. The last thing she wants to do is come looking for me when I’m out of her sight. She’s actually relieved. Story of my life, really, people being relieved I’m gone.
I pull my feet up, hugging my journals to my chest and cry. My ribs feel tight like they’re crushing my organs. I don’t care. Let my organs get mashed into slime. Let them run out of my belly button and pool on the floor of this bathroom.
“I’m sorry, Guthrie!” I whisper to him as if the journal we both wrote in has formed a psychic connection between us and he can hear me apologize. But he can’t. He’ll never know that I lived. He’ll die thinking he failed to protect me, and I hate myself for causing his faith in himself to falter more than anything else I ever said or did to him.
I take the next several minutes rocking gently on the seat and whispering apologies to a man hundreds of miles away who can’t hear me. Then I clean myself up so it’s not obvious I was crying, dry my hands with the working blow-dryer, gather up my journals, and pop back out into the restaurant.
When I come out of the bathroom, Dutch is putting on his jacket. He hands me mine, something we bought at an outlet mall on the state line. It’s made of jean material and has patches of cartoon kitties on the front and back. It was this or an ugly, yellow sweater.
“Y’all take care!” Glynnis calls after us as we exit the front with its little jingling bell. She doesn’t mean it.
It’s some time near midnight and we’re not stopping until we’re at least two states away. Then we can pull over and sleep, no sooner. I need to get far, far away from where we started to feel even remotely alright. I told Dutch that before we stopped for food, and he nodded quietly. I know he won’t argue. His world view was shattered the moment he learned that angels are real. He would fight for them, die for them. And they told him his duty was to protect me. He’ll do it without question. They’re using him in a way, and though I feel a little weird about it, I’m not going to stop it because without him, where does that leave me? Alone, that’s where. And then I’m as good as dead. I wanted to die once. Maybe several times. But not today. I have to make things right first, no matter how long that takes. Even if it takes forever.
“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” asks Dutch over the music he turned on to keep himself awake.
I only have one clue to start with. The name of a place I heard Samael use when talking to Ohno after using that flesh-stitcher to patch me up. “Narvik” he had said. I just need to figure out where that is. Find that flesh-stitcher, send it home, and then--
The angel radio fills my brain with information about this place, Narvik. Apparently, it’s in Norway, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Okay, that’s not going to be our first stop, definitely. There’s no way we’re getting to Norway without passports. I can’t tell Dutch this though. I’m going to have to get in touch with Dumah or Barrattiel and figure something else out.
“I’ll know when we get there,” I lie with confidence, “Have you got a pen?”
“Check the glove compartment.”
"That pen you stole from a bank? It ran out of ink and I threw it away."
"There should be another, check around."
Of course there's always a pen in the glovebox. You can throw out a zillion dead pens and still pop open the glovebox and find a pen. It's like magic. You know what you won't find in a glovebox? Gloves. Does a glovebox ever have gloves in it? It must have at some point; otherwise, why did someone name it the glovebox? It should be named the flashlight box. Or maybe the owner’s manual compartment. And yep, there is another pen, thankfully. It’s a long, erasable ballpoint with the words “Dutch Brothers Plumbing” on the side. I scribble it on my pant leg to see if it works. It does.
Dutch sees the name on the pen. “My brother Werner had a bunch of those made, back when we tried to start a business together.”
He doesn’t mention that his brother Werner died during the same war Dutch was a soldier in. He took shrapnel from a landmine that somebody else stepped on. Imagine dying because someone else was careless. I’m sorry, Meredith.
I take the Dutch Brothers Plumbing pen and scratch out my old name on this journal. “Alex’s Journal” I write. I really need to work on that signature. My capital ‘A’ looks like Pac-man with a runny nose. I flip the book open to the entry before Guthrie’s. What did I last write down? The laundry room door crumbles to ash? Oh man, I’m so behind on writing in this thing.
I flip back past Guthrie’s entry and scribble the date from a week ago before writing what I can remember of my thoughts and actions. “Alright, Lily, it’s no big deal. So you’ve got the Devil chilling in your meatball.” It feels weird calling myself Lily when I just wrote my name as Alex on the cover. Best to stick with things as they happened though, so I don’t confuse myself as an adult if I reread all this.
Dutch glances at my hand scribbling furiously. “What are you writing about?”
“The past.” I don’t look up. The road is bumpy and the truck’s shocks are garbage. It takes Herculean effort to keep my hand from turning the page into an infant’s attempt at a Picasso.
“Do you ever write about the future?”
“Never in the moment where it would matter.”
Ahead of us, the road is dark and empty. Everything and everyone we know lies behind us. But the world is round, and you can only go so far before what once lay behind you now lies ahead instead. Maybe someday I’ll go home. Maybe I’ll stop by my own grave and leave myself a flower. A lily, just because.
Maybe.

So I am getting the seaaon pass because my friend and I are going in a week long Ohio trip visiting here and then Kings Island. I am getting the one with passport so I can travel between parks. It is literally a $100 less cheaper to do the Kings Island season pass with passport than it is cedar point all because of county taxes. So luckily I'm traveling through Cincinnati on up towards Cleveland and Sandusky so I'm going to stop there and get my season pass and then continue to move forward to Cleveland to start my trip. Any of y'all are planning a roller coaster vacation like my coworker and I and visiting both of the parks or more. Start at Cincinnati or get your pass at Cincinnati first!
Ok so maybe not taxes but definitely more at Cedar Point for same stuff.

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