Now

I wrote this short story sitting in Panera on the afternoon of August 20th of 2009, and tonight in criminal justice class, instead of paying attention, I decided to edit it. I usually go through 1-3 drafts before agreeing it is mediocre. So I thought I'd share it with my blog readers. It is about 4 pages, so I hope its not too long to read. Let me know what you all think... constructive criticism is always welcome.



Now

The bloated and dirty vinyl cushion indented in a small poof as the tall yet slender woman sat down upon it. She pushed herself deeper in the booth so that she felt the wall guarding the right side of her body. A little girl across the room let out an obnoxious giggle followed by an even more obnoxious "shhhh" from her mother. The tall woman was alone today. Her senses were aroused like a dog’s when it’s food hits the bottom of its dinner pan. The espresso machine coughed up a lung and the male employee nonchalantly pressed down the lever. She wondered where his mind had gone. About an hour after he clocked in, he had left his body and began a journey into his past memories and future hopes, his "now" running on auto-pilot. This was all reflex in order to leave the mundane world of his 8-hour-shift. His hair was tousled to the side, but not in an attractive, urban way purposefully messed up to look as if he didn’t care but secretly did. He really didn’t. He finished up the order with a strained smile and the predictable, “Have a nice day” as he handed the venti double shot mocha to a pre-teen girl who looked as if she needed anything but a double shot. He began this process all over again with the next customer who stepped up to the small counter. As they finished their request his eyes glazed over again.

“Reece?”

The tall brunette snapped back to her own present and glanced up at the smiling red-headed, middle aged woman who held a tray of food. Her nametag said Marge.

“Yep, thanks.” Reece replied in a small voice from her corner in the room. Her salivary glands burst in her mouth at the sight of her chicken Caesar salad that was placed in front of her. With a smile of thanks to the middle-aged woman Reece sank her teeth into her lunch. She didn’t have to wait on anyone to start eating, she was solo at her table. The chair across the table was brightly lit by the sun streaming through the window as if in agreement with her thoughts. Highlighting her phantom friend. Eating by yourself takes practice; she discovered. There is no pacing since there is no conversation, and with each bite you want to force the next one down in fear that others will wonder why you are here by yourself. Eat quickly and get out.

But today, Reece chewed her blend of lettuce and chicken in small and pleasurable amounts. What was the rush? She looked up from her food, glancing at the people around their tables, defensive animals blockading plates and drinks from the other consumers around them. A young couple was in an engaging conversation. Their voices escalating and descending between mountains and rolling valleys of dialogue. The man’s expression was serious, his brow intense as he took his turn listening to the woman with black dreads sitting before him. Reece assumed they spoke in riddles of their past and flowery poetry of their future. Neither talked of the present- no talk of weather or their food preference. They knew each other too well to devote precious minutes to the pettiness of the now.

“Virginia, your order is ready” a monotone man wearily announced over the speaker. Reece grinned when she matched the bored voice to the disheveled-haired employee. She analyzed that he was in his mid-twenties at least. His green eyes were only noticeable under his messy hair when he focused his gaze out the large windows. Reece followed his sight out of the coffee shop and realized he wasn’t staring at the traffic of today. His pupils found the road blocks, the rush hour and the open highways of what he is to expect in his near, and possibly, far future. She too began drifting. Sitting her fork down with a small ting she began to write...

Time is not only two hands ticking without reason in a circle ending a day and the next second beginning a new one. It is the biological clock that we depend on, that determines our destiny and what happens when we run out of it. We don’t notice the crease of a line forming in the seconds we stare at our own reflection in a mirror. But in a decade we look back to a picture of our youth and realize that our skin has aged, our hair has grayed and we don’t laugh as freely as we once had.

Reece picked at the remainder of her salad, the iceberg lettuce that shouldn’t be fed to anyone let alone a paying customer, which littered the bottom of her plate. She was now twenty-two, a grad student in Colorado, who liked to read literature and paint. She didn’t have much else to be proud of. She called her mom at least once a week so she wouldn’t worry about her daughter being on her own at such a distance. When she spoke through the phone she smiled at how close she seemed, no distance was a distance anymore with today’s technology. This comforted her mother, as if their words were a buoy in an open sea of shark infested waters. Reece didn’t miss home much until Autumn began showing her true colors in the blushing hues of red, orange and yellow leaves that held on to the trees in a farewell embrace. Its as if the leaves are torn. They despise the fall for forcing them from their comfortable home, but are exhilarated at the beautiful colors they receive before venturing into the wind and the unknown.

Reece's mind got lost in the trees remembering the fateful day she accepted a school so far from everything she knew. Floundering like a newborn baby she had to start over again. She was excited at first but as her car began racking up miles she began to stare out the rear view mirror more frequently. She told her friends she would call and keep in touch, but as she spoke the words they tumbled out as false hopes. She hated talking on the phone and knew she would lose the closeness she had with many of the people she loved. The wind led her along the highway as she put more space between the known and unknown.

“Are you finished?”

Reece fluttered her eyes, regaining consciousness and turned from the window she hadn’t realized she was still staring out of. The messy-haired, bored employee was looking at her questioningly. He had obviously thought cleaning up after people would break the mundane task of taking orders. He reached for her plate.

“Oh, yeah, I am finished. Thank you...” Reece looked at his nametag, “Jake”.

The man hesitated but then realized that he was wearing his name on his shirt. He blushed at his confusion and entered the now, finally seeing Reece sitting before him.

“Yeah, I forget I am wearing this thing.” He picked at the gaudy, gold tag on his tee. His shirt was weathered and had a stretched out neckline, with the rest of it fitting snug to his swimmer’s build. A statement screamed at her from the front of it, “What Now?” it asked in bold letters. She smiled up at him forgetting that she was in the same world as him just minutes ago.

“I was wondering the same thing.” Reece pointed to his shirt. The man, who she noticed looked a bit older up close, glanced down.

“I found this in the thrift store downtown. Thought it would be appropriate for work.” He cracked a sarcastic grin and looked at the tablet beside Reece’s plate.

“What are you writing about?”

She followed his gaze. She was writing about Fall. The changing of seasons. Truth. Time. Life ending. Life beginning.

Unsure of how to explain her prose she did something unexpected, something she wouldn’t have done back home. It takes new places and new experiences to make a person do new things, she thought.

Reece slid the tablet across the table to the stranger, allowing him to see the depths of her heart, emotions and her very own soul in ink. He was taken aback at first but quickly recovered. With a glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was at the counter, he picked up her written words delicately in his large hands. She hadn’t written much, most of her time spent in the coffee shop had taken place in her foggy memories and dreamy future, and had forgotten to write it down in the now, so it didn’t take him long to read it. He sat the pad of paper down with a sigh and he looked at her again with a strange, half-smile. The look spoke to her in a multitude of ways. She knew he was searching for an answer to who she was, he was interested but wary to begin a new friendship, or maybe more. Was she worth his time in the now, when he could be dreaming up a perfect future? In this future he would never see a gray sky or hear a crying child, would never feel a broken heart or feel the agony of breaking a heart. He was safe there and she knew he was debating this as he searched her face. But reality clouded fantasy, and he decided to venture in the now.

“Would you like to discuss this more? I get off in an hour...” His voice trailed and didn’t let any hope surface.

It was now Reece’s turn to be the debater of what her destiny would hold. She knew God gave her these moments in time that were monumental, yet she had the free will to choose whether or not to follow. She glanced out the window to what could be and then back at her poetry of what was. A tear was beginning on the corner of her notepad. It was purchased a week ago and it was already deteriorating at her touch. The world was slowly falling to waste around the two as his question hung heavily above them like a cloud about to give birth to torrential rain. People were dying, decisions being made, births were bringing families joy, people were defying humanity, some were finding Jesus, some were finding drugs, others were telling bedtime stories to their children. The world was still revolving. Time would not stand still even in epic moments as this. Reece knew her life would be easier without him, without anyone, without the acknowledgment that time is running out. But when she looked out the window she saw his honest face reflected back at her and where she saw her future he was standing there.

“Yeah, “ Reece looked up, “I’ll still be here...”