The knight we met

   The story truly began the night Lana found herself at the Medieval Times restaurant. When she had arrived in the big city, she sent her resume to everyone and anyone including the Medieval Times but she did not send just her own. She sent her friends in too, and as luck would have it, Suzanne was the one who got the job. Still, orientation meant that her friend would see the show for free and was expected to bring a guest and so here she was.

               They roamed around the big hall, looking at the decorations, perusing the gift shop. In the corner barred by a large, hooded figure stood the dungeon. A room full of medieval torture devices. There was a sign that read “Entry to Museum, $5.00”. They looked at each other, dug in their pockets but came up with only bus tickets and a battered pack of cigarettes. Lana would not be deterred, She put on her sales face and took her friend by the arm.

               “I got this. “She said with confidence. She walked right up to the hooded figure, Suzanne in tow, grinned broadly and said:

               “Hello! I’m Lana and this,” she said bringing her friend up in front for expectation “is Suzanne. Now Suzanne is your newest co-worker, and we are here for the free tour” the guard looked down at them, slightly menacing and after a long, pregnant pause he rolled his eyes and stepped aside.

               Suzanne smiled sheepishly and nodded at him as they passed, and Lana only laughed.

               “Thank you!” Lana called back just before slipping behind the curtain.

 Inside the walls were painted a kind of rusty red, glass cabinets held the more delicate items, but the walls held weapons, chains, and nasty looking hooks. Suzanne made a joke about this being the worst honeymoon suite until with an evil glint in her eye Lana replied, “for some.”

               Soon the announcement sounded that the show would begin and the two of them made it to their seats. As they climbed the stairs to the yellow section, buxom waitresses placed yellow, paper crowns on their heads. The section wasn’t so crowded and they ended up with an entire row to themselves.

               The food was eaten by hand, pop drunk from metal goblets, and they were grateful that of the medieval traditions, the lack of napkins was not considered. Lana clapped delightedly when the knights rode onto the stage, handsome in their costumes, atop regal horses, sporting swords, lances and other tools of the trade.

Just before the final battle each knight picked a lady in their section and used their Lance to give her their favor. A small slip of cloth in the knight's own color that the lady would keep as a souvenir. Lana was surprised when the yellow night passed his favor to her. She unwound the cloth and waved cheerily back at him, trying furiously not to blush. This had been a secret dream of hers since childhood. Who didn’t want to be a damsel?

               The yellow knight won the tournament and the crowd howled with delight, Then the princess announced that she had chosen her prince and of course put her own favor onto the yellow night.

               Suzanne pocked Lana in the ribs and teased her about not being able to hold onto a man and Lana shrugged and asked how she could compete with dowry the size of a princess's. Soon the show was done and everyone began to vacate the halls. In the hall while the knights had come out to greet their fans, Lana couldn’t resist approaching Mr. yellow.

               They chatted, flirting like mad and when Lana asked him if his princess won’t be jealous of their conversation, he told her that she was two timing him with the green knight. They laughed and when the others said they were going to the bar down the road, Marcel asked if they wanted to join him. Both Lana and Suzanne agreed.

               At 4 AM when the bar was closing, Lana invited Marcel back to their place, and he agreed. They spent the rest of the night, talking, laughing, making out, and when morning came, neither wanted it to be over. They went for coffee but soon Marcel had to go home, he had to get ready for work and Lana agreed to take the subway with him, just to get a few last moments in his company. They got off at Pape station and he took off.

Not ready to go back into the hot crowded mess of the TTC, Lana sat down for a moment on the curb, beside her sat a girl wearing a white tank top and mirror shades, a cigarette dangled from her lips.

“Can I bum one of those?” asked Lana.

“this is my only one but you can have the second half.” She took one last drag and handed it to Lana. Normally Lana thought better of taking a half-smoked cigarette from anyone but this time the thought didn’t even occur to her. Instead she puffed grateful and began to chat.

“I’m Lana, thank you for this. I ran out and could really use one after the night I had.”

"I’m Virginia, nice to meet you. Tell me about this night you had” she said leaning in conspiratorially. Lana began to describe her evening before, and Virginia would interject a joke here and a comment there. Soon the Cigarette was gone and a passing man who was smoking was suddenly assailed by two voices in unison asking to bum a smoke. He looked startled but handed them a cigarette which they shared as well. Virginia told Lana that she was here also because of a boy and told her own story. They figured out that they were practically neighbours, and they had a lot in common.

“There is this dessert, It’s vanilla ice cream, dipped in hard chocolate, drizzled with raspberry sauce, surrounded by fresh raspberries on the plate. I’m telling you Lana, it's to kill for!”

That was it, the comment that did it. A switch went off in Lana’s brain and she realized that she needed to hang out with this person again. Everyone else would have said to die for but this girl was different. The way that Lana was different. She smiled shyly and then said.

“Can we be friends? I’ll give you my number and we can hang out sometime.” Virginia smiled and said she was just about to suggest the same thing. They talked for a bit longer, until the boy Virginia was meeting had arrived, but they had already made tentative plans involving scary movies and a pillow fort.

Lana walked back into the subway, smiling to herself. Little did she know that though the knight was lovely, the greatest gift he gave her was putting her in the right place at the right time. She only saw him twice more before life got in the way and they parted on friendly terms, but Virginia, now there was a best friend for life.