Chapter 16
George finally picked himself up from the bathroom floor. It was a long walk back to his booth where his breakfast order was sitting waiting for him. As he sat down to eat, whatever it was the waitress had brought him, he was starting to take notice of how pathetic his life had become. He sat down in his seat and began nibbling away at his food. It was a pretty greasy establishment so the food was not all that great, still considering how drunk, and drugged he was, he barely noticed.
What he did notice was the rowdy bunch of guys who had been hitting on the waitress had left, the cook was probably on break and the young woman was sitting alone at the bar fiddling with the register. Although he was not at his most presentable, he decided what the hell and called her over to his table. She came over quickly with a pot of coffee and asked if he wanted any, he nodded in agreement and as she was pouring the drink into his cup he looked her dead in the eyes and asked,
“How pathetic am I?” She shrugged her shoulders and replied,
“you don’t look pathetic to me sweetheart, you just look like a guy who had a little too much fun is all.”
She finished pouring his coffee and asked if he needed anything else. He didn’t hesitate this time, he blurted out,
“no I am, I drove my wife away, I lost my job, my kid, and my home.” George said. “I live in that dirt motel across the street and can barely scrape up the energy to drag my ass over to this shit hole of a diner to eat this greasy slop. I used to be a man, I had a good job,”
He paused and looked down into his coffee cup she had just filled.
“My brother lost his wife in a car accident, and I lost mine in a fit of rage,” George said. “You look like a nice young woman, what goes through your mind when you see a man like me who had it all, stumble into this rat infested, good for nothing sewer you work in and order this shit?”
The woman could tell that George was pouring his heart out, and as sympathetic as she wanted to be, he was beginning to make her uncomfortable. Then she politely excused herself and told him if he needed anything she would be right over there, and pointed to the counter where she returned to finish her work.
George decided he needed to get some fresh air so he stepped outside and opened his cell phone to make a call. The phone rang a couple of times and Drake answered.
“Hello, who the hell is this at 3 O’clock in the damn morning?” George mumbled into the phone,
“It’s me, George, your bother…”
He paused to let it sink in.
Drake didn’t even take the time to respond he slammed his phone down and ended the call. Not wanting to be disturbed he set it to reject all incoming calls. George sat there in front of that diner, feeling truly alone for the first time in his life. He had been a great salesman, now he was a bum. He went back in to finish his lousy breakfast and ponder his own existence.
After a few minutes George managed to finish his meal. Sitting alone in the booth he was not quite ready to go home, yet he didn’t really want to disturb the waitress again. He signaled her to bring over another cup of coffee, which she obliged. As he sat there drinking his coffee a thought entered his mind. He starting thinking about that dream he just had, which reminded him of his first date with Molly, the woman whom he despised more than anything in the world at this moment.
He was thinking of how he had been in love with Ashley Taylor and if he hadn’t gone on that date with Molly, he began to wonder how his life might have turned out. He promised Ashley he would take her to the fair; she was looking forward to it, even bought a new dress just for the occasion. At the last minute his mother told him Molly was in town and it would mean a lot to her parents if George would take her to the fair. He protested but after a much heated argument about how much she did for him over the years and how little he does for her, he reluctantly agreed to ditch Ashley for Molly that night. His plan was to hang out with Molly until it was convenient to ditch her and then meet up with Ashley.
It didn’t work out that was since Ashley had seen him riding the Ferris Wheel with Molly, and holding that red balloon he won her, it made young Stephanie jealous and she left in a fit of emotion. Stephanie wouldn’t speak to him for several days. He was so angry at his mother for ruining the relationship he was forming with the most attractive girl in their entire school. Molly didn’t even live in town she was just visiting. He tried to explain what happened but Ashley didn’t hear any of it, she hooked up with Bruce “the bear” Erickson, the start quarter back, whom she would date all through the duration of high school. He never looked her up since.
As George was thinking about how Molly ruined his chances with is first true love, a thought entered his mind, why not look her up and see what she was doing? It figured that at the very least she would be happy to see him. Of course he was hoping that they would fall back in love and get married and finally liver their happily ever after. George had always been the dreamer, the poet, the artist, the musician, he was the hopeless romantic at one point in time, he decided it was time to get that back.
His parents might have talked him out of following his dreams and pushed him into business school, nudged him to marry the wrong woman and then leave him out in the rain when the union fell apart, but it was high time he got his life back. This time he would do it without any help or interference from his parents.
Stephanie Bri 