I'll Have the Lasagna, Hold the Alien Goo, Please

The prompt:

When you are eating out at your favorite restaurant, you find something unexpected in your food. The owner comes over, looking frazzled, and begs, “Please, I can explain!” Write a creative/exciting explanation for the object you discovered in your meal.

My response:

I sat down at the table, not even bothering with the menu. It had been a rough week and some nice Italian food was exactly what I needed to keep the week’s horrid events from polluting my weekend.

When the waitress came, all I had to say was “the usual, Michelle,” and she was on her way to the kitchen, and I leaned back against the chair and sipped some red wine.

Twenty minutes later, my plate of lasagna arrived. I was salivating before it was even on the table. The stream floating up from it made it look even more appetizing. The cheese was a perfectly melted blend of white and green-

Wait. What cheese was green?

I picked up my fork and hesitantly poked at the bright green goo mixed in with the melted cheese. I sighed. There was no way I could eat this. Despite the mouth-watering aroma that wafted from it, I just couldn’t bring myself to eat lasagna made with green cheese, or whatever this goo was. It could be radioactive for all I knew! It did seem to emanate a slight glow.

I set the fork down and looked around for my waitress. I found her by the bar and waved her over.

“Is everything okay?” she asked as she approached.

“No, actually, it isn’t,” I said, pointing at the goo. “This lasagna looks like it’s been contaminated.”

She gasped. “Oh dear, I am so sorry,” she apologized, taking the plate. “I’ll bring you a new one right away.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. I don’t have much of an appetite anymore. I’ll just go home, I think.” And heat up another Lean Cuisine, I added mentally.

I pushed back from the table and made my way to the exit. When I was about three feet away, however, a short, portly man in a tuxedo, with more scalp than hair and a dark mustache blocked my way. He looked completely frazzled, wringing his hands and breathing heavily.

“Please, I can explain!” he insisted. “I am so, so sorry! You see, one of the new chefs, he isn’t from around here. He’s one of those… you know… new arrivals?”

I did indeed know. Part of the government’s plan to make friendly with races from other planets.

“Well, you see, they don’t use knives on his home planet, and he slipped and cut one of his tentacles. That particular race bleeds a green ooze type of substance, and he must have dripped some onto your lasagna before it went into the oven, and then it cooked and mixed with the cheese as it melted. I simply cannot express to you how deeply I regret that it was missed and it was served to you. If you please, I will personally make you any meal on the menu and provide a bottle of wine at no charge.”

I felt my mouth fall open.

“I know that you’re a regular here,” he continued. “I see you once or twice a week. This was certainly an isolated incident and I would like the chance to personally make it up to you.”

He smiled uncertainly.

I closed my mouth and nodded. “Okay,” I said. “But hold the alien goo this time.”

Eh, it's just a quickie. But leave some love anyway, please! I'm trying to throw a new one up here every Sunday, so keep checking back!

Ren