Watertown: A Halloween Story
“Oh my wallet!” I exclaimed the moment I reached for it and couldn't find it. Seeing the hopeless expression on my face, the girl behind the cash register smiled and said, “no problem, pay next time.” I sure appreciated her kindness and, having rushed out of the house in that stormy weather at such an early hour, could definitely use that tall cup of coffee and the cream-filled bagel in the bag she had just given me.
“Thanks a lot. Are you sure?” I asked, just to make sure she wouldn't get into trouble with her boss.
“No worries. I own this place.”
“You do?! That's nice. I would never guess with your young and tender age.”
“Well. I just inherited it from my dad, who died in a car crash.”
“Oh, so sorry to hear that. What a tragedy.”
At that moment, one of the waitresses overhearing our conversation said in passing, “and her mom too.”
I immediately felt double sorry for her and ventured, “unbelievable. Well at least they were together.”
“Actually they were in separate cars,” she responded. I glared at her face for a moment, completely baffled. Preempting my next question, with a low voice she said, “my mom was cheating and my dad found out and rammed into her.”
I couldn't imagine a worse scenario happening to a young soul like that, expressed my deep sorrow, wished her good luck and then exited the diner on Mount Auburn Street, but as I was crossing the street toward my car, my eyes caught the sight of my wallet at the curbside. Delighted and at the same time puzzled how it could have dropped from my coat's pocket without noticing it, I quickly checked to make sure that the cards and the bills in it were still there and then rushed back to the diner to square my debt. To my surprise that girl wasn't there and an older male was now behind the register. After a minute of waiting, I inquired about her and he gave me a puzzled look and said “what girl?” I looked for the other waitress to corroborate my story and didn't see her either. Strange, I thought and then explained to the guy that the girl who said was the new owner had just let me walk out without paying because of my missing wallet.
“Are you sure it was here? I'm the owner's son and I don't have any sister, not the last time I checked.”
“Really? Well, that's strange. That was just a couple of minutes ago. Anyway, here is for my coffee and the bagel.” I offered a ten dollar bill and he asked if I had any cream cheese on the bagel and then gave me back the change. I then walked out of there like a zombie, trying to figure out what had just happened, so absorbed in my thoughts that I crossed without looking and was hit by a car that threw my body several feet in the air before landing by the sidewalk. Gasping for air through my blood-filled mouth, I saw through the corner of my blurry eyes that my wallet was a couple of feet away, precisely where I had picked it up a minute ago, and then the angelic waitresses hovering around, entertaining me for the last time.
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