Cape May

Prologue

Friday, February 17th, 2017

Jules Weinstein took the chairs off the table and placed them on the floor. They were getting ready for the meager lunch crowd. Lunch or dinner is not what it is in the summer time when hordes of tourists would invade Cape May, but it was enough to be worth it. There were enough locals and frequent winter tourists to justify staying open.

Some tables held two seats, some four and yet others held six. And if a big party came in, they could always join tables together to accommodate the group. But it being February, it was highly unlikely that a large group would be coming in. Cape May is a summer town, a beach town as they say, located at the southern most tip of New Jersey. It's a bustling, hustling place in the summertime. People come from all over and throngs upon throngs come to enjoy this idyllic place, for the beach is great, the restaurants plenty and the bars even more so.

There are multi-million dollar homes, right across from the beach, and then there are reasonable, four – five hundred thousand-dollar homes. But these are more inland. One would have to walk four or five blocks to the beach. But what's a few blocks when you get to enjoy all the amenities the rich folks have!

Jules and his wife, Rachael, owned and ran one of the most frequented restaurants on the strip, The Lobster's Claw, a restaurant right on the boardwalk across from the beach. It was passed on to them by Rachael's father, who bought the property in 1948 and made it one of the most popular places in Cape May. Jules and Rachael were committed to continuing this trend. It was an ideal location. Actually, it was an awesome location. In the summertime, there are crowds and crowds of people vying to get in the restaurant especially on the weekends. There's a carnival like atmosphere in Cape May in the summertime.

If one sits upstairs in the Open Beach dining room or the balcony, one could see the entire strip of beach for miles east and west and a gorgeous view of the ocean all the way to the horizon. The ground floor affords sidewalk dining and also a great view of the beach, with its white sands stretching as far as the eye could see.

Inside is a huge mahogany bar and more tables for about a hundred people. The Lobster's Claw is an immensely popular restaurant and a landmark of Cape May. In the summer time, locals as well as the seasonals gather every evening to watch the games on the huge monitors generously placed throughout the restaurant. Jules and Rachael know all the locals and a lot of the seasonal homeowners as they return year after year with new stories to tell and a hunger to quell.

But it is winter now, and the throngs and crowds of people are long gone. Winter in Cape May is far removed from the sun-drenched days of summer and the crowds that come to bathe in it's waters or bar hop from bar to bar or eat at any of the great restaurants along the boardwalk. It is a time of grey, bleak days, when the sun may not show itself for days. The boardwalk and beach is empty resembling that of a ghost town. The winter wind can be heard as it comes in from the ocean, carrying with it the freezing chill that it has picked up from the miles and miles of frozen waters it traverses. It can be heard even through the thickest of windows as it careens against shutters and empty garbage cans, creating swirls of tornado like risings along the sand.

Threatening, always threatening.

But still, Cape May is home to a few thousand locals who enjoy a good night out now and then and with the televised games, the bar is always half full, despite the weather. And along with the bar, comes the food. So, they were quite content to be open for business during those long cold winter months. It was worth their time.

On top of the restaurant is a spacious 2,200 sq ft apartment that they decided they would make their year-round residence. So nine years ago, they put their apartment in Soho, New York for sale. They sold it to a nice couple that was just about to have twins. They deserved it. It was a huge space, great for a growing family. He was one of those financial types and she was a lawyer. Robert was his name. She remembered for it was also her son's name. His wife's name was Holly, and she was a lawyer. Although there were other bidders, they chose them because they reminded her of Jules and her when they were young. They felt they sold it to the perfect couple. It was too big for them any way, now that it was just the two of them. It was more than they needed, as their two grown children had left the nest to pursue other ventures, which did not include sweating over a hot stove in the middle of summer.