Amanda offers up a delicious tale about friends, the inner city, and our own internal cravings. This one will leave you starving for more!
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Welcome to Smirk. A podcast that covers society and culture through a storytelling lens. Part creative writing, part discussion, and always interesting. Each week our hosts brings a story to the show, a story they wrote themselves, which is immediately followed by discussion on the author’s moral or theme.
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Want to read Amanda’s story “Starving for More” in full? Think you can identify the moral or theme for this episode? Read it below, and then take a listen to the podcast.
Starving for More
It’s November in the city and there’s so much to do. Lights are strung tree to tree, and there’s people everywhere. She will be in soon and their plans are set for the weekend. Two women in Chicago, what are they to do? Walking the city, an Uber here or there, Kindlemarket, and of course the shopping center. But… could there be more?
Blanche is set to arrive in the late evening, just in time for Dorothy to get in on the train. Two friends who come from different areas to meet up and see each other periodically throughout the year. Whenever they get together for a few days, they cook for each other, drink wine together, and talk about everything from shallow fashion discussion, to the deep topics of their past and emotional turmoils.
They’re having a great weekend hanging out in their hotel room together, doing what they do best. But now it’s time to figure out dinner. “What are you thinking for dinner?”, Dorothy asked Blanche. Blanche responded with a high level of enthusiasm and anticipation, “Well we’re in Chicago, so.. Pizza!” Dorothy nodded in complete agreeance, “that’s a great idea. We should get deep dish.”
The two women ordered their favorite deep dish pizza, a couple appetizers like wings and salad, and sat on their hotel bed together eating as much pizza as they had love for their friendship.
The next day strolls around and they look forward to some activities they’re going to do together, albeit in the cold. Blanche is really excited because she loves to shop – she’s a total girl- while Dorothy is excited for the Kindlemarket and just to spend time with her long-distance friend. They start up their morning and get ready, which takes much longer than a Lord of the Rings film, and when it’s finally time to go, they’re starved. They both discuss and agree that they should probably get lunch somewhere before they go shopping since they’ll be on foot. After about 40 minutes of indecisiveness, looking at Yelp reviews, and the 15 Minutes alone it took to decide on a Cuisine type, they finally decide on a Japanese hibachi. This means they’re going to get an Uber for a 30 minute drive to sit down and eat for probably 30 minutes, and then another Uber drive 30 minutes back. But the two of them have a lot of fun exploring, and they love to try new places to eat together.
Blanche and Dorthy set out for blanche’s happy place: the shopping mall in Chicago. They go around to different stores, they take photos of the beautifully lit Christmas trees, they obviously buy a few things, and of course you can’t forget listening to the live music on the street as you’re passing by. The exquisite nature of a city that’s so rich with culture and exploring with one of your best is really an ideal experience. They set out back to the hotel so they can drop their bags, and also so Dorothy can talk about how tired she is and it’s nearing her bedtime. But they’re both pretty excited for their next adventure to the KindleMarket, so they change their clothes and get ready. They go to the Kindlemarket and try all sorts of new tasty things, like hot chocolate and a cute little mug, freshly fried cheese on a portable grill, and explore the cleverly unique Christmas ornaments. Their feet are beginning to hurt and it’s pretty cold outside (they can only snuggle together for so long), so they decide to grab an Uber and head back to the hotel. It’s nearing 10 or 11 p.m., which means that a lot of the food places are closing. They still hadn’t had dinner, so it was time to go back to the Yelp reviews. They search for couple different places in the area, but most of them aren’t open. They call one spot that’s right across the street from their hotel and Blanche speaks with the hostess, who says they’re closed. Quite puzzled, Blanche responds to the hostess that it says that they’re open for about another hour and she just wanted to know about seating. The hostess responds again that they are closed, so Blanche decides it’s not worth the extra work to try to get a table in there. After perusing the internet for a little while, Dorothy stumbled on a place that wasn’t too far away, had their regular menu for about another hour, and then had a shorter menu for their late evenings when they tend to get busier with drinkers. Dorothy calls over and the hostess tells her that there is a wait and they’ll try to get them seated as quickly as possible so their menu will depend on the time they get seated. They both sort of look at each other and shrug their shoulders, this is the best bet they have. So the two set out for yet another excursion into the cold. Luckily, they have these really pretty hats and gloves that they just bought at the KindleMarket.
They arrive to this bar and are seated with very little wait time. They order an appetizer and check out the menu. Of course, the mac and cheese catches both of their eyes. Blanche gives a little smirk to Dorothy and says, “I’m a little hesitant on mac and cheese when I go out. Pretty hard to beat mine”. Dorothy’s had Blanche’s mac n cheese, so atop her chuckle, she thinks to herself “she’s right”.
They both order their meals and snack on their appetizer, chatting about love, life, and how much they like to spend time with each other. If you’re wondering if these are platonic friends, I promise you they are.
They conclude their meal, in all of its beautiful Glory, and set out to go back to their hotel for their nighttime sleep. This is the last night they’ll have to spend together, since Blanche leaves early in the morning. They arrived back at the hotel chat a little bit more, take off all of their makeup, and cozy their way under the sheets.
The next morning, around 5 a.m. or so, Blanche and Dorothy get up to prepare for Blanche’s departure. Dorothy knows how much she’s going to miss her friend and she knows just what to do send her off with a little love, and start her morning off right. She walks over to Dunkin Donuts, kind of looking like a mess. She waits for the staff person to arrive since they’re obviously late for their morning shift. She goes back to the hotel when the person doesn’t open the door even though they’re ours state they’re supposed to be open, feeling a little sad that they couldn’t come back with unsweetened iced tea and a breakfast sandwich that she knows her friend really likes. But, Dorothy prevails. It’s not the type of lady to give up. So she sets back out to Dunkin Donuts, even looks at some alternative locations. This is Chicago after all. The clerk finally opens the doors as Dorothy arrives once again, gets the iced tea and breakfast for the two of them, and takes it back to Blanche at the hotel. She walks in the door with smiles and greetings, anything to start her friend’s day off right. They have breakfast together in the room while Blanche getd ready, and the sad part of the day begins. It’s time for them to say goodbye.
The two hug it out and head their separate ways once again for the time being. Dorothy makes note of all the places she wants to take her friend to eat… the next time she’s in Chicago.
Now, listen to the full episode as we dissect Amanda’s story.