Chapter 4

Chris wasn’t working the next night, so I could concentrate on the job again. It was a Friday night, one of the busier nights of the week. Being a Friday meant I got to work with Gary; the other young man that had started the same time I did. We were the same size and age, and initially looked a lot alike; the wait staff had a hard time telling us apart at first. He had let his hair grow out a lot by now; he was a musician with a nice singing voice, and was the drummer in a garage band; he was working in the restaurant when they couldn’t get a gig, just for some extra spending money.

Between most people getting off work for the week (and had just been paid), and with our weekly Friday night fish-fry, we were hopping until 9:00 or so. The young busboy/dishwasher got off work at 10; after that Gary and I kept switching off between the kitchen and the back of the restaurant; washing dishes and cleaning up. I was able to re-stock the kitchen, and get ready for the final surge of business, when the movies closed and the people from the nearby dance hall came in.

In between lulls, Kelly stopped in the kitchen several times and chatted with me a bit. She seemed mad about something; I didn’t say anything at first, but the fourth time she stopped I asked her if everything was, okay? She just looked at me for a few seconds, then asked me why men were such assholes; I knew I was on shaky ground. I paused and said, “Not all of us, surely. I think it’s just a recessive gene that sometimes comes out strongly in some of us.”

“Where did you come up with that?”

“I’m just winging it here, trying to make you smile a little.”

“You don’t seem to be an asshole.”

“I’m sure I’ve got it here somewhere,” I tried to joke. “My dad taught me to try being nice, first. Besides, I’m a little guy; I really can’t afford to be an asshole to most people.” That made her pause a moment, then I thought I saw the beginnings of a smile. She turned and headed back into the dining room to attend to a couple men that had seated themselves at the counter, right by the kitchen; I went back to work, I didn’t think this conversation was quite over.

I was right, she kept ducking into the kitchen every 15 minutes or so. I kept getting little pieces of information, and lots of attitude; I realized she was just venting. Gary asked me what was going on with Kelly, I just shrugged my shoulders; he said he was going to go hide in the back and do some dishes, call him when it got busy. When she made another trip by, I asked her what the other girls thought; she said they thought men tended to be assholes too. Pretty soon I just started agreeing with her; that didn’t help either.

Fortunately, about 11:30 business picked up again, pretty soon Gary was back in the kitchen with me. We were busy enough that I didn’t get another visit from Kelly until the doors had been locked at 1. Finally, the customers were gone and I got the rest of what was pissing Kelly off from one of the other waitresses; her boyfriend was supposed to pick her up after work and he had decided to go out of town suddenly, stranding her. I guess this happened a lot; that’s why all men were assholes.

We were a little bit bigger group than usual heading to the diner tonight; Kelly was still a little wound up, the other girls were chatting with her about it. Gary and I ended up helping out the owners a bit; the waitresses starting helping take orders; after an hour we were all sitting back down, relaxing with some free appetizers the owners had given us.

“I can’t believe my boyfriend left town without checking with me! Shit! I forgot; I need a ride home;” Kelly was still fuming.

“We’ll get you home, don’t worry. What’s the big issue with your boyfriend?” one of the waitresses asked.

“He’s my old high school boyfriend; after school I joined the Army for 4 years, he wasn’t happy with that. When I got back last year and started school to become a teacher, he didn’t like that either. He wants to get married right away and have kids; I wasn’t all that sure about him and definitely wanted to wait on kids; now he’s really not happy with me, nor me with him. I’m probably going to break it off; we’re not really compatible.

“I didn’t know you were in the Army,” Gary said. “You don’t look old enough to have been in the Army for four years. What did you do, what was it like?”

“I was an admin clerk in Georgia; it wasn’t bad, just boring as hell. I’m almost 24, I know I look a lot younger; I’m always being accused of having a fake ID. No driver’s license yet either; that’s why I need a ride from my boyfriend.”

“Where do you live?” someone asked.

“Down on 8^th street, near Hamilton High.”

“That’s near me,” I mentioned. “I can get you home, it’s right on my way. If you don’t mind riding with a possible asshole.”

“You’re not an asshole, men are. Shit!! I didn’t mean it that way!”

All the others started laughing and protesting, I waved them all off. “It’s okay, she’s still venting; I’m just glad you’re not mad at me.”

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to insult you. I’ve got to watch my mouth when I’m mad, sometimes I don’t think.”

“That’s okay, sometimes I have a hard time thinking of myself as a man; I’m still only shaving once a week. Maybe I’ll get a better handle on that after I get through boot camp.”

“I still can’t believe you joined the Marine Corps; who’s dumb enough to join them? Shit!!! I insulted you again! I’m really sorry! I’m going to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the night!”

Everybody started laughing, once I did. “You know, the ‘rest of the night’ is only a couple of hours,” I said, still smiling. “And you don’t need to worry about insulting me, I’ve got a pretty thick skin. Keep talking, you’re pretty cute when you’re mad.”

She blushed at that and asked, “Where do you live?

“I’ve rented a garage apartment on 10^th street.”

“The Millers? I know them; I went to school with one of the Miller girls, her mom used to do my hair.”

“She just cut mine. Nice family; if any of you girls need a cut, she’s available.” With that the conversation veered off in a couple different directions. An hour later the talk started tapering off, people started heading home; quickly I realized Kelly was just sitting there, staring at me. “Don’t sweat it; I’ll take you home, as long as you’re not still mad.”

That got a little giggle; “Yes, I’d like to get a ride home from you. I’m ready whenever you are.”

“I’m ready, you know I’ve got the old white Buick cruiser?”

“I love that car. My boyfriend’s got a souped-up Chevy that you can’t hear yourself talking in.”

“Come on Army, let’s roll.”

We got in the car and started out of the parking lot. We got about a mile and she asked, “Can we just drive around a bit? I’m still a little wound up, and would like to talk some more.”

“We’ve got plenty of gas and new tires, anywhere specific you’d like to go?”

“Just down by the lake, maybe go through the park.”

“I know the way; you just start talking.”

Talk at me she did. First about the boyfriend and what a piece of work he was, her time in the Army, going to school and maybe becoming a teacher. She went on and on, I just had to make a couple grunting noises every once in a while; when she slowed down a little, I’d ask a question and she’d start up again. She started asking a few questions about me, not too personal, pretty soon we were talking with each other. About 20 minutes later she wound down; I started heading back to what had turned out to be our neighborhood. We got close and she perked up again.