Today I ordered lunch at the Bertucci's on US Rte 1, on the stretch that is known as Providence Highway because it isn't in Providence. Not the salad, but pasta for a change, with chicken. Paid, left the tip, and as my booth was way the heck towards the back, headed through the dining room. Went past the big oven that every Bertucci's has, the brick oven that is actually out in the dining area behind a counter.

One of the senior waitpersons, who has come to recognize me as a regular, acknowledged me while working behind that counter. Since she had greeted me, I approached her, trepidation writ large on face, and loud in voice: "Excuse me, can I ask -- "
"We're fine," she said, without batting an eye. I wasn't the first person to approach her with that question. "The news media, they get the press release, they make what they always make out of it, they make a big story out of it.
"Sure," she continued, "the company that we belong to is selling us to another company. The only locations in Massachusetts that we're closing down are in Taunton and Raynham, nobody was eating there. The rest of us will keep going. We're still here, and we're fine."

So maybe, just maybe, I have not eaten my last arugula salad at Bertucci's.