THE WAITRESS
The door was pushed open gently, causing the wind chimes to sing as the top of it touched them. A voice from the back of the diner ringed out, sounding as if her entrance had awoken him. “Christi, thank you for coming in so early, you saved my ass!” She chuckled to herself knowing that both, he was being sarcastic and he was genuinely appreciative. It’s just how Karl was, he’s been this way
since the day she met him. He shuffled his way into the dining area to greet her, slipping her a crisp twenty dollar piece of gratitude.
Christi looked down at his palm before blindly accepting it, and met his gaze with one of her own, despite the tired look in her eyes. She tried to deny the tip, but before she could finish the words,
“you didn’t have to,” he shook his head back at her and said, “nonsense!”
Besides her exhausted appearance, she was stunning, even without a shred of makeup. She had
planned to apply some in the bathroom before her shift began. In motherly fashion, she showed up early to check on Karl, ensuring he was not only recovering as he should but to also make him coffee and a light breakfast if it was necessary. Her brunette pair was put back into a draping ponytail, almost bouncing off of the small of her back at every step she took. Her brown eyes sparkled like witches magic in the proper light, giving her a more innocent appearance than she felt she ever deserved.
Turning 30 wasn’t as scary as she envisioned. She once brought it up to Karl who shot the notion with pin point precision. He told her that she had nothing to worry about, 30 was the new 20, and in her first seven months of it, he was right. Of course he was. He was always right. She appreciated his guidance and wisdom more than anything about him. The day she interviewed for the job he made a joke about her height, saying she could drown in a puddle.
While not literally correct, she laughed and admitted he was right, Five foot nothin’ was small, indeed. She aged like Gouda cheese, or to be more cliché, like fine wine. She could pass for 21, still getting carded at the liquor store from time to time. She took it as a compliment, and it made it a point to carry her ID on her all times.
Karl on the other hand, was quite the opposite. Life had beaten his ass and taken his name a dozen times over. He had given up on love, but was not miserable. Just because it didn’t work out for him didn’t mean the rest of the world would have the same fate. He did his best to spread positivity to all, regardless if they had wronged him or not. His face shouted pain so loudly a deaf man would cover
his ears. It was painfully obvious. All he had was this diner and the customers inside of it, but that was enough for him. He never asked for much but happiness, and if this was what he was offered, he gladly accepted it.
Christi, in turn accepted the job with a smile as well, and it’s been a happy partnership ever since she agreed to be his head waitress three years ago, give or take a month or two. She walked in
from the back room, tying her apron before counting the cash till from the night before. Everything
checked out as it should, so she returned to the front door to lock it shut before opening hours had
arrived.
She approached Karl, who was sitting at a table nearest to the wall, reading the paper from the
previous morning. “And you say I’m old news,” she said with a smirk, sliding out the chair adjacent to him. His eyes briefly met hers, giving her a slight grin, and then straight back down to the obituary section. “You’re funny, kid. Gotta tell ya, nothing worse than getting old, but never lose your smile. None of us get out alive.” She nodded along and poured herself a cup of coffee that rested next to Karl. Two creams, no sugar.
They opened in 20 minutes and this was their routine. Karl would read the paper and opine about any article he found interesting or ludicrous and they’d chat about it briefly. Christi looked at the decor on the walls, just as she had any other day, but for some reason it hit her differently in this moment. The photos of the old neighborhood almost brought a tear to her eye, and back to an era that she would never get the chance to experience. She gripped her pink apron under the table, growing frustrated with Karl that today wasn’t like every other. He wasn’t talking about any article, just sitting there with one hand resting on his forehead, reading.
Her grip getting tighter, she required a routine and he was fucking it up. It wasn’t his fault, he didn’t know about it. They didn’t get personal, they didn’t get into demons, secrets, skeletons. She reached for the sugar, hoping to get his attention. She hadn’t used a dust of sugar since they had met, surely this would do it.
She was wrong. He never broke eye contact with that god damned obituary page. She slammed her fist on the table and untied her apron, shouting that she was going out for a cigarette. Karl picked his head up and said, “but you don’t smoke, Christi.” She stormed off and into the office where he had
slept since he bought the place so many years ago. The same wood paneling on the walls, damn near peeling off the yellow paint job. She always wondered if the yellow was intentional or if they were nicotine stains that he never bothered to scrub off.
Christi ruffled through paper receipts and bills on his desk until she uncovered the pack of full
flavor cigarettes and pushed the door open with such force that it clanged off of the wall outside. As she lit the stick with a custom zippo engraved with his initials, he followed her outside.
“What did I do, Christi?”
“It’s not about what you did, it’s more about what you didn’t do.”
He shrugged his shoulders and paced around the space in front of her, where the dumpsters stood. “I’m lost without a map. I am a man, after all.”
She took a pull of the cigarette with a slight smile on her face, and retorted back with, “Karl, you know me better than anyone on this planet outside of my ex-fiancee. You know I am a creature of habit. You know I require routine, and you just broke two years and a half years worth of it in there.”
Karl paced around some more, taking a deep breath of the fall air before speaking back.
“You thought I knew you liked me rambling about the news? Why don’t you just watch the news? They’re more educated than me.” Christi flicked her cigarette and gave him an empty look. “You think it’s about being educated? You think it’s about the news? Karl...Jesus Christ, I don’t care about those things! I like what we have as friends. You are one of the few who know of my issues, and it’s why I stay!”
He stopped dead in his tracks and looked like a puppy who got caught pooping in the kitchen. “Oh, Christi, I never knew. I’m so sorry. I -,” she cut him off mid sentence.
“It wasn’t intentional, I know. It just bothered me.” She chucked her butt into the puddle to the left of Karl and gestured for him to come inside with her. He followed at her behest, she held the blue painted screen door open for him.
