Olive Branches Don't Grow on Trees Read Online Free

to look at him.
    Silvia
was not sure of his exact plan for saving the world, and from what she could
tell, either was he.  Part of her wanted to warn him more about trying to
save an irredeemable world and about studying something so impractical and
useless.  But the bigger part of her knew he needed to fall on his own
face.  She only hoped that he would not have to fall as hard as she had.
 In the meantime, why shouldn’t he enjoy the good times?   The dreaming, the cheering, the trying.   So instead of
giving him any lectures on the topic of self-preservation, she commended him
for his lofty ambitions.
    “Well
that's great Vince,” she said, making her face as serious and hopeful as
possible.
    Vince
smiled modestly, and then looked down at Silvia's slice of pizza, which was
only half eaten.  She had sprinkled hot pepper flakes on it, hoping that
this addition would make it more appetizing, but it still tasted like
everything else had been tasting to her since she had
been in this slump-- like nothing.
    “Not
hungry?” he said.
    “I
have no appetite lately,” she said. “Do you want the rest?”
    Vince
gladly took the rest of the pizza.  While he ate, he looked around their
table conspiratorially and spotted a couple eating, what appeared to be a
pepperoni pizza.  Silvia knew, from the mild condescension in his eyes, that
her brother was thinking about how awful it was that they were eating meat.
 And like her, he might also imagine the awful existence led by the pig
that made the pepperoni possible.  She sometimes felt as if their two
separate minds became one.
    “Oh
shit,” Silvia said, sliding down into her seat to make herself less visible, “I
went out with that guy in high school.”  She was referring to the young
man who just walked into the pizza place.  His name was Al Santora , and she was dismayed to see that he looked really
good.
    “Don’t
turn around,” she said to Vince, who unfortunately had already turned around,
and in doing so, had caught the attention of Al, who, in turn, stared back at
the table at which they sat.  It was too late to pretend that she did not
see him.  Their eyes had already exchanged glances, and now he was walking
towards their table.  He was dressed in a grey suit and tie with a checkered button down shirt, and had extremely bright eyes that went
perfectly with his teeth that looked as if they had been painted with Wite -Out.  He was very different from Silvia, like all
of her ex-boyfriends, and this could have been why she was attracted to him.
    “Silvia!”
he said as he walked towards the table.  She smiled an uncertain smile at
him.  She didn’t feel confident today.
    “Hey
Al. Good to see you,” she lied.
    “Yeah,
you too,” he said. “How are things?”
    “Things
are great,” she lied again, and then quickly asked how he was doing before he
had a chance to ask her any more questions about her own life.
    “Couldn’t
be better,” he said, exhaling as if his body could not contain all of the
happiness and well-being inside of it.
    “Oh,
you remember my little brother, Vince?” she said, gesturing to Vince before Al
had a chance to tell her about how great his life was.
    “I
do remember,” said Al, “not so little anymore.”
    Silvia
and Vince laughed out of courtesy.  Al then looked at his watch in the way
that all busy, successful people look at their watches, and said that he had to
be off to a meeting.  Silvia was more than happy to see him go and
thrilled that she did not have to hear about his current life situation. 
She imagined that it was much better than being unemployed and living with a
crazy parent.
    She
then tried to remember why she broke up with Al.  He was a nice enough
guy.  Most girls would not have found a thing wrong with him.  But
Silvia was not like most girls.  She found whatever she could find wrong
with a guy and would leave him for the next one who came along.
    “He
has bad taste in music,” she