A Mother's Day Pizza

We drove down to see my folks on Mother's Day with a plan. Let's surprise them and take them out to pizza! A place called Melo's has been there since I was about 15 or 16. I remember that because I had worked 2 doors down at Pepito's Mexican Food Restaurant. Pepito was changing out his dishes and Melo was in need of dishes. One of our chores at $1.35 an hour was to carry stacks and stacks of ceramic restaurant strength dishware over to Melo's new pizza place. Over the years the little place became famous around town as one of the best pizza places around. I can remember driving by and seeing lines out the door on a Friday night. Fools, I thought to myself! But my memory kept the hope of that place alive as a great pizza place still lingered. One of my fondest memories was when I was old enough to drive, was to go there and buy myself one of his pizzas. At the time a small one item pizza was $4.50. When you're working 3 hours an evening washing dishes and clearing tables at $1.35 an hour that becomes a whole evenings' earnings! It didn't matter, I had been smelling the awesome waves of pizza aroma since they opened every time I showed up for work 2 doors down. Now it was time to taste the product. My friend and I who worked with me at Pepito's drove over there from 2 doors down. Yes, we drove because my license was brand new and driving anywhere seemed necessary. Walking was so yesterday. We decided to sit down and split a small pepperoni on a thick crust. That way $4.50 didn't hurt as much when you split the cost although you are still splitting the pizza. We watched numerous pizzas being carried out to other tables and anxiously awaited our own. I felt like we were breaking one of the ten commandments as this seemed so decadent but I couldn't recall ordering pizza being on the list of the Big 10 do's and don'ts. I believe also, that this was the first time that either one of us ever had to pay for a meal. Prior to that, our mutual friends' mom owned 5 greasy hamburgers places around the county where we could eat,  almost at will, if we did a few chores for them. Finally there it was, steaming hot on a thick crust baked to perfection with the pepperoni still sizzling. This one was ours! We devoured it in a flash. We weren't satisfied. We were not ready to walk away yet. We looked at each other and did something that I couldn't believe. We flagged down the waitress and ordered another! There went our whole evening's wages for both of us.
   I hadn't eaten their since because of that darn line out the door. Mother's Day was now time to go back and see if that line had formed yet. Fortunately we slipped in right before the line started forming and ordered 2 pizzas for the four of us. To my delight they were as good as I remember although now I had raised the bar for Mom and Dad. Spoiled by the low cost and convenience of Costco mom had to admit it was better than Costco's. I wonder now, if on some Friday night, that I might drive by Melo's, will I see my parents out there in line waiting to get seated for a Melo's Pizza? If I do see them, I'm pulling over to join them.