January 12th, 2012

Friday

5:36 P.M.

Jerald and Marian finished getting dressed for the evening, they were going out for dinner with their son. The chosen location is a popular restaurant called Maple Leaf: a fast-food place that served Canadian-styled foods. Both were donned in formal outfits.

The wife in a light-red dress with white high shoes, and her husband in a black pin-stripe suit with grey dress shoes. 

They hadn’t told David yet, since it was meant to be a surprise. It was planned by the father, who felt bad that their special boy couldn’t come with them yesterday.

“Got the diaper bag packed and ready?” asked Jerald. 

“Yes dear, it’s all packed up.” Marian replied. 

“Eccellente, Mia Moglia. According to the directions I printed from my computer... we’ll be going to the classic one at 415 Greystone Avenue. From the online reviews I’ve seen, it’s quite popular.” said the father.

The husband picked up the sheet of paper with the directions, handing it to his wife to read. She looked it over and nodded to herself. 

“Alright, I’ll grab our son and get him ready.” said the mother as she exited her bedroom. 

Marian headed down to the living room, with the white diaper bag hanging over her left shoulder. It was a bit heavy, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She noticed the youngster trying to say the phrase “Che Cosa” which translated to “What?” in English.  It was the phrase of the day for today’s episode of Dino Heroes, he was giving it his all while watching the show. The premise of this particular episode was about traffic safety.

“Chee Kosa? Che- Ce- Che Kossa?” said David as he tried to mimic the phrase. 

She approached her son and knelt down to his eye level, even if her little cub couldn’t keep eye contact. The youngster looked below his mother’s eyesight and said “Chee Kosa?” He tried to utilize the phrase for practice. 

“Me and your father have a wonderful surprise for you... we’re taking you out for dinner!” said Marian. 

David got excited as his eyes dilated, his little feet were shuffling about as he got up from his toddler chair. He’d shout “Yay! We're going out!” as he then paused for a moment, realizing the location wasn’t revealed.  “But where?” 

“Maple Leaf, it’s a casual fast-food restaurant that serves food that originates from Canada.” said Marian.

“Is that near... here?” asked the tiger cub.

“No honey, it’s somewhere far north.” said the mother as she picked him up. 

“Oh... okay.” said David.

“Now... let’s get you all dressed up. Can’t have you going out in your blue-footed pajamas.” said Marian as she chuckled. 

She carried the tiger cub to his room, placing him on the floor while she searched the wardrobe for his usual outfit. The mom found it and laid the articles of clothing near her son: a red and brown striped polo shirt, and black jeans with light-gray socks. 

David stood still while his mother got him dressed up, which didn’t take long since he didn’t tend to give her problems. This only took three minutes to do. 

Jerald entered the bedroom, just as his son was dressed and ready to go. He knelt next to him, looking right at him. The boy stared at his father before lowering his eyes to the man’s suit tie. 

“Excited my boy?” He asked.

“Yes papa!” said David. 

“Very good, remember to be on your best behavior when we’re there.” said Jerald.

“Why?” asked David.

“You haven’t eaten out before, and it’s best to behave yourself when in public. There will be no yelling, hitting, or anything else of the sort. However, it’s alright to show excitement. Understand?” the father asked. 

“So... no doing anything bad?” asked the boy.

“Right on the mark, son.” said Jerald as he patted David on the head. 

“That’s our boy!” said Marian.

Before they were about to head out, David toddled over to his stuffed dinosaur plushie on the floor and picked it up. He looked at it while asking “Padre? Can I bring Norbert too?” 

“Sure, just make sure not to lose him.” the father said as he picked up his little boy and carried him downstairs while his wife accompanied him. 

“Bellissimo!” said the tiger cub. 

The mother grabbed the folded dino stroller from the hallway closet, along with the keys to the dark-blue minivan sitting in the driveway. Which were hung on a small hook. 

When all was prepared, the family got into the van and drove off to their destination. Their son was wiggling with excitement while sitting in a tan-colored child seat in the back, buckled up tight. Jerald was driving while his wife sat in the front passenger seat. 

Jerald decided to play some Italian music on the car radio, which the son enjoyed listening to while waiting to arrive at their destination, all while snuggling his stuffed dinosaur. The father made sure to input the directions of the restaurant into the GPS. 

After twenty minutes of driving, they arrived at the restaurant and entered the parking lot. The father found a spot near the front of the building and parked it next to a red and black striped convertible. 

“Oh Davey... we’ve arrived sweetie!” said Marian as she got out of the car and went to open the side door to the back. Her husband opened the vehicle trunk with the press of a single button on the dashboard. Jerald went ahead and got the dinosaur themed stroller set up for his son. 

“Yay!” exclaimed David. 

While the little boy was being placed and strapped into his stroller, he looked up and the red and white awning that hung from the side of the flat roof. Under it was a medium-sized Maple Leaf lit up by dark-red neon lights. The name ‘Maple Leaf’ was lit up with silver neon lights.

Underneath it was a message written on a square sign in dark-red bold letters in front of a white background. It was illuminated by two wall lights on both sides of the sign itself. The message said, “The best place for Canadian Fastfood!” 

Marian made sure all the car doors were closed, and then locked the vehicle before grabbing ahold of the stroller. She then pushed it towards the entrance to the building while her husband walked from behind for safety purposes. 

Upon approaching the entrance, the fragrant and pleasant aroma of fried food hit the nostrils of the young tiger cub. It made him wriggle with excitement!

“Vai! Vai! Vai!” exclaimed the tiger cub while playing with his dinosaur plushie in the stroller.

“Don’t worry son, the food isn’t going anywhere!” said Jerald as he chuckled.

“His excitement is so adorable!” said Marian. 

They entered the restaurant through the glass doors, looking around at the interior of the building for a moment. It had black and white ceramic checkerboard flooring, with walls made from refined wood. There is currently a small line at the cash-register, which doesn’t seem too long of a wait. 

Marian looked at her husband and said, “Go ahead and find a place for us to sit. I’ll order some food from the menu. Don’t forget the highchair.” Her husband nodded and took the stroller from his wife. Jerald watched as she got into the line, heading off to find a table to sit at shortly after. 

David watched from his stroller as his father looked around for a table to sit at, which took five minutes due to how many customers were inside the building. He’d eventually find one, which was a square table with two chairs and a wooden highchair. 

“Perfetto!” said Jerald as he unbuckled his tiger cub from the stroller and placed them into the chair. This table and highchair smelled of rose-scented cleaning solution, which means it was recently cleaned. “There we go son, now we wait for your mother.” 

While the mom had waited in line for her turn at the front, she looked over at the menu that was above the register. The food items on it had a small description underneath them.

Poutine
French Fries and Cheese Curds topped with a succulent brown gravy, comes with an additional cup of gravy

Bannock and Bacon
Fried Bread Topped with Bacon, includes a buttery dipping sauce

Bacon Butter Tart
Pastries Made with A Buttery and Sweet Filling
Contains Eggs

Pea Soup
A Creamy and Delicious Meal
Made with Fried Pork, Peas, and Fresh Parsley

Ketchup Chips
Potato Chips Made with Ketchup Flavoring 

Smoked Meat Sandwich
Made with Smoked Canadian Bacon and Slices of Chedder Cheese

Smokey Burger
Burger made with Smoked Meat, topped with some gravy and cheese. 

Deep Fried Cheese Curds

Nanaimo Bars
Layered Bar Cookie with Buttercream and Custard

Poutine Burger
Made with Potato Buns, gravy, cheese curds, and Canadian bacon.

Maple Leaf Burger
Burger made with Canadian Bacon Mixed in, topped with Bacon. It has a bun with a maple leaf imprinted on top.

Kids Menu

Junior Maple Burger
Smaller variation of the Maple Leaf Burger

Maple Meal
Small Poutine Burger, Small Fries, kids’ toy

Smoked Manwich

Child-Sized Poutine

Small Fries

Kids’ Pea Soup

Drinks:

Water 

Nanaimo Bar Milkshake

Vanilla Milkshake

Chocolate Milkshake

Maple Wafer Milkshake
Made with Vanilla Ice Cream and Maple Wafer Crumbles

Root Beer

Green Valley Thunder

Red Fizz

Tropica Raspberry

Tangerine Drop

It’d take six minutes for Marian to reach the front of the line, which gave her the opportunity to decide on what she wanted to order. Once her decision had been made, she smirked and waited for her time at the front. 

After the time had passed, the woman walked up to the front and looked up at the cashier running the register. It was a female brown bear in red and black uniform, with dark brown long hair. 

“Welcome to Maple Leaf, may I take your order?” She asked. 

“I’d like to order a Maple Meal, two poutines, and two Maple Wafer Milkshakes.” said Marian.

The cashier at the register wrote down the order on a notepad, proceeding to tear out the sheet of paper afterwards. She smiled and said, “Thank you, that’ll be twelve dollars and thirty cents, may I have your name as well?” Marian gave them the appropriate amount of money, then nodded to them in response.

“Marian.” the tiger lady responded.

“Okay, your order will be done in seven minutes. It’ll be brought up to the order section to the left of the register.” said the bear.

“I appreciate it, thank you.” said the mother as she went to wait for the order to be finished.

While that was happening, Jerald decided to give his son a small lesson in speaking Italian. He was trying to teach him a simple phrase.

“I’m going to try and teach you a simple phrase: Quando. It’s useful for asking about the time of when something starts, or maybe how long a meal will be until it arrives.” said the father as he took a deep breath and said “Quando?”

“Qando?” asked David as he tried to repeat it.

“That’s a good try, but it’s just Quando. Qua-n-doe. Quando. Think it over and then try it again." said Jerald in an encouraging tone. 

“Kwa-n-doh?” said the tiger cub. 

“You were close, figlio. We’ll work on it another time, don’t worry about it too much.” The father said he gently ruffled the boy’s hair. Which elicited a giggle from him. 

After seven minutes, Marian arrived at the table with the food on a dark-red plastic tray. The Maple Meal sat in a small cardboard box; it had maple leaf shaped tabs that kept it shut. 

David was kicking his feet a little bit, the smell coming from inside the contain was exciting him a great deal. He watched as his mother opened it up and placed the contents on the tray section of the highchair. 

“Thank you, mama!” exclaimed David as he excitedly grabbed his poutine burger and took a big bite of it. His tastebuds encountered an assortment of different flavors that he hadn’t tasted before. He’d pause for a moment before saying “It's.... yummy!”

“You’re welcome sweetie! Enjoy!” said Marian as she looked at her husband. “He’s satisfied with his kids' meal, now let’s enjoy our food.” 

“Alright then.” said Jerald.

The whole family ate their meal silently, enjoying every mouthwatering bite from their Canadian-styled food. David had finished his Poutine Burger after a few minutes and moved onto his fries. 

Jerald is pleased that his son was enjoying himself, especially for his first time at a fast-food restaurant. What really surprised him the most was the poutine, since he hadn’t eaten anything like it before. 

“How interesting... I’ve never eaten Poutine before. It tastes so good!” said the father.

“It must be the cheese curds giving it that wonderful flavor!” the mother said as she continued to eat. 

Once Jerald was finished with his meal, he took a sip of his Maple Wafer Milkshake and looked towards the Maple Meal box that sat in the middle of the table. He looked inside and chuckled a bit from what he found inside: a small stuffed blue stegosaur plushie. 

Marian looked at her husband, watching as he pulled out the small toy and showed it to his son, who intensely focused on it. The youngster smiled and said “Yay! A dinosaur!” as his father gently handed it to him.

“That’s adorable!” said Marian.

“It’s a very nice stegosaur, it looks like Norbert has a new friend now.” said the father as he chuckled. 

The tiger cub snuggled both the stegosaur and his other dinosaur plushie, emitting a quiet purr as he held them in his arms. His mother got up from her seat and approached him, petting his back as she asked, “Ready for a bottle, my little boy?” 

“Yes mama,” said the youngster.

“Okay then.” said the mother. 

Marian opened the diaper bag and pulled out a bottle of milk, gently giving it to her little boy. She watched as the kiddo took it from her and began suckling on the blue nipple that was atop the lid. She’d say to him, “There you go, take it slow sweetie. Just like that...”
Jerald watched happily as his wife sat back down in her seat, taking a sip of his Maple Wafer Milkshake

After the meal was finished, David’s father gathered all the trash onto the plastic tray and disposed of it in the nearest trash bin. He then placed it on top where a stack of them were currently standing. 

The mother watched as her little tiger was beginning to nod off, gently picking him up and placing him back into his stroller with his dinosaur plushies. She then strapped him in using the buckles. 

“Looks like someone’s a sleepy little cub.” said the father.

“It’s been a good night for him, one I don’t think he’ll be forgetting for a while.” said Marian. 

“Let’s head home, mi amore.” said Jerald.

“Indeed so, my dear.” said his wife as she planted a kiss on his cheek. 

The family headed back home after such a wonderful evening of dining out, David was peacefully sleeping in his child seat. Jerald decided not to play any music on the car radio, since he didn’t want to wake up his son. He was happy that his son behaved very well. 

Once they arrived home, Marian quietly removed her son from the car after unbuckling him from the child seat. She’d take him to his bedroom and put his pajamas on, once his other clothes were removed. Putting him to bed before heading back to her room where her husband was waiting.