COVID-19, Dumped, And Happy

Alan J. Schwarz
6 min readNov 6, 2020

Manuel Offshein never expected in a million years to get dumped during the pandemic by his girlfriend Rachel Lamtrew.

The relationship between Manuel and Rachel started off hot and heavy. They had met at a party and there was instant chemistry. The problem was Rachel got bored very quickly, so she wanted Manuel to keep her interested and happy.

At first Manuel took great pleasure in setting up exotic and interesting dates. He wanted to do things that Rachel would always remember and appreciate. If he would have gotten to know Rachel better he would have figured out he was fighting an uphill battle. It was very hard to please a woman who was never really happy with anything.

During Covid, Manuel was nervous about going to different restaurants every night. Rachel on the other hand derided him for cowardice. ‘’Manuel, you have to stop believing everything you read. Did you know that there are some top name American actors here in Toronto, and they’re going to all the best restaurants, if they’re not afraid, why are you?’’

In order to keep Rachel happy, Manuel devised a plan. He would get take out from the best restaurants and serve a different dinner in his apartment every night. He would change decor, lights, and music, and make every night fun.

The first of his planned ‘’Gourmet at Home’’ Dinners featured a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, a beautiful garden salad and a baked potato with a Rib Eye steak from Prime on Avenue Road. Chef Brad had brought the food over himself with instructions how to make sure the steaks were served properly.

Rachel arrived about twenty minutes late with no call to say she would be delayed. She walked in to the apartment and threw her coat on the couch and looked around. ‘’What’s with the Frank Sinatra music and the lights on so low?’’ She was wearing a black leather skirt, and a sheer red top. She looked as always gorgeous.

Manuel walked over to give her a kiss and she turned her face to give him her cheek. ‘’Honey, I wanted to make dinner special, so I had Chef Brad from Prime on Avenue Road prepare everything. I hope you like it, can I pour you a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to get things started?’’

Alan J. Schwarz

Alan Schwarz loves life. He is the founder of JAMS Productions, a television production company based in Toronto . His passion is writing.