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Six people and a gnome walk into a bar…sounds like the being of a joke but it’s actually the beginning of my story. “We were told to come here,” someone from the group I was with piped up as we walked through the door of some little Thai food joint. It was a cheesy and tacky little place that stole your heart and no doubt had misspellings in the menu but it had a charm you couldn’t resist. There were six of us plus a gnome and it must have been a sight for the owner who seemed a tad intoxicated from his place behind the little bar. The group sat down and order some beer that turned into mixed drinks before a fish jumped out of a tank, one person in the group insulted the owner, and I was told to “take the gnome and get everyone out”. But the story in between is quite something. We must’ve arrived close to closing or just after, but the bar still had three people and the owner humored us. After all, we were a bunch of 20-somethings still looking to drink even though we had just walked up the block from a brewery. But being the designated driver for my friend with the gnome I sat there and was served up orange soda with “here, have some orange soda”. It wasn’t a question, it was a directive. So with drinks in hand sitting at, what was called, the bar we launched into conversation with the owner and from there it only spiraled. We learned the owner had grown up in the vicinity of Pearl River, New York and had met his Thai wife, a chef, on a cruise. But the funny part of that story was that he was originally on the cruise with his girlfriend at the time when he met his future wife. Eventually they married opened this little place in Pearl River, New York where she is the chef and he runs the front end including the bar. We also learned that the people sitting at the bar were his friends, one of which attended elementary school with him. He didn’t hesitate to grab his yearbook and show us a group picture. Then another regular, friend, turned up and satellite conversations started to break out between everyone. The owner took shots with his friends and continued to serve up drinks. We joked, laughed and talked about whiskey and vodka, which brand was the better quality and what brand was good quality for cheap. But as I said, a fish jumped out of a tank, one person insulted the owner, and I was told to “take the gnome and get everyone out”. When an owner, turned surly and rightly so, says to you “take the gnome and get everyone out”, you take the gnome and walk out hoping at least your one friend, the one your responsible for, follows. Luckily, he did while the only other sober one from this group rounded up the others he was responsible for and ushered them out. But as we started out, one of the owner’s friends came out “You guys should come back when you can and get some food. And make sure to take care of your mothers on Mother’s Day, alright?”. We said we would, shared some plans, shook hands and started down the street back to the cars to end our night with some fat sandwiches back in Ramsey, New Jersey. Long story short, I now know of a little Thai food place in Pearl River, New York.