peanuts

I went to a restraunt with some friends the other day. It was a steak house. Upon entering i heard crunching, like large bugs being squished. I looked down. Beneath my feet was a layer of peanut shells. Apparently one of the traditions at this restraunt was to offer its patrons little buckets of peanuts to munch on while waiting for their food, once eaten it is encourage that the shells be thrown on the floor. Now, I am not a very neat person. Dishes wait patiently for days at a time on my kitchen counter to be cleaned. My coffee table is usually buried in a paper strata of junk mail and bills. My kitchen floor, however, gets swept the moment there are crunchies on it. I can't stand crunchy bits under my feet. Irrational I suppose, but there it is. Anyway, so I'm at this restraunt and every step I take is another crunch crunch crunch. I can feel the shells resisting and then giving way under the soles of my shoes. They send icky little vibrations up my spine. Once seated I like the restraunt, it has a great ambiance, very westerny. The waiter for my table is very friendly and strikes up a conversation while i wait for the rest of my party. As long as I can keep my feet up on one of the table's supports, the peanut shells are OK. I am given my very own bucket of peanuts. ....Huzzah..... (i don't actually like peanuts). The rest of my party is still about 10 minutes away, so for lack of anything better to do , I begin shelling peanuts . after a few minutes I have created two little mounds, one of peanuts and one of shells. My mound of shells is very neatly stacked, almost pyramid like really. At about the point it reaches 2 inches high the waiter comes back, looks at my little stack, and says " Now we can't have that" and takes my little stack of peanut shells and very cheerfully tosses them on the floor. I am aghast. He looks at me very happily. As though the sharing of the tradition was a great treat and haven't I found some quirk of the restraunt that is absolutely amazing. I smile politely and wait till he is gone to sigh. My party shows up and we chat, eat and pay the bill. I have managed to forget about the peanut corpses. As I step from the booth though I am subjected to the shivery crackle of the husks and it is decided. Good as the restraunt was, I don't believe I'll be back.