The Economy Hits Home: Takeaway Café Closes its Doors

For a while I thought the disasters had eased. Last month the government didn’t close. Apart from some major tornadoes and record river floods, the natural world seemed almost to have forgotten us.

And then I found that Takeaway Café had closed.

Even the sign is gone. All that remains is a small typed message on the door: “We must regretfully close our doors due to economic conditions.”

It was my closest place of business, my corner shop – at least, my corner-of-the-mall shop. It was the place where I could chat with the proprietors and eat a packet of Kettle Chips while waiting for a Kilkenny salad. It was the place where I bought breakfast casserole or spinach quiche for visitors, lasagna for book group, beef stew for a birthday party.

So where will I find a “home-cooked” meal? Where will I get the extra bacon bits for my weekend omelet?

It’s not that I can’t cook. I can, but living alone, I usually lack both inspiration and time. When I do suffer a fit of good intentions, my fridge fills up with moldy peppers and lettuce.

I suppose I should have seen it coming. Things aren’t going well around here. In the next block over, three of seven houses are empty, their lawns overgrown, torn curtains or blinds in the windows. (How is it that empty houses always have ragged drapes?) The news suggests that things will only get worse.

If an excellent local business like Takeaway Café can’t make it, who can? I only wish I’d known to fill my freezer before they closed.