Day 48

It seems like just yesterday I began the journey of a thousand noodles, and now that only a single bowl remains, my wandering into Olive Garden seemed aimless, distracted. As I sat down at my table, a nameless waitress approached me, fear obvious in her eyes.

"Sir, I -"
"Please," I interrupted. "I've been here for 7 weeks now. You can call me Vino."
"I...um...Vino, I-"
"No, no, actually, go back to sir."
"Sir. I don't know how to say this. Um." She paused, took a deep breath. "We are out of pasta. You...you ate it all. We can bring you something, but they'll be a little different. Substitutions. Please forgive us."

Lunch was skipped.

Dinner was composed of three plates of pasta:

Buca-tiny
Primo-vera
Grande-Sized Number Six Combo With Diet Coke

I felt a sense of emptiness. This wasn't right. It was delicious, but it wasn't what I needed: the final bowl. The culmination of everything I'd been building the past seven weeks.

Tomorrow.

A special thanks to my dining companion, Vinegar!