A story

"You should choose the braised beef ribs. You can share it. Mashed or baked potato? And have the house vegetables with it. Very good choice. You'll have a coffee? You got it.
Where are you from? I'm from Germany. My family is from Stettin, but that's now Poland. After the war they went to Eastern Germany, about an hour from Berlin. I went to Berlin often, I like this city a lot. Then came the Communists, and you know, you couldn't own anything. We were expropriated four times. Then my family escaped through the tunnels to the west. We went to Stuttgart. My mother was an interpreter there for the American army. In the seventies we emigrated to America. But I would like to go back. I like Europe better. And in Germany, all is very orderly. That's the only system that works, the orderly system... here nothing works anymore.
Cheesecake? Oh yes we have cheesecake, the best in town. More coffee?
You have to say hello from me to your mother and your grandmother. And tell them I'm from Stettin... remember I'm from Stettin, they will want to know."

Waitress at the Courthouse Diner, Queens, NYC