Not a lot of hot and steamy stuff in this story. Once again it could fit in a number of different silos, perhaps Non Erotic and Romance suited best. I hope you enjoy.
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They say the borderline between sanity and insanity is as thin as a thread, as sharp as a knife edge. The same goes for success and failure.
My name is Robert Gadd. This is a tale about how ephemeral success can be and how winning and losing, love and hate, are closer than we think.
This is my place, The Starlight Diner.
It isn't much, just an old fashioned diner on the outskirts of a small town. I bought the place a few years ago. I had inherited some money and a house from an aunt, my Mom's sister. My mom had passed a few years ago so I was next in line for my aunts assets. It was a nice house compared to the old trailer where my Mom and I had lived. The trailer was parked on some property owned by a mining company. They had originally used this trailer as their office. The mine owner had given it to my Mom, she never explained why but I figure it had to do with how she earned her money. Mom made money to feed us the old fashioned way, on her back.
I discovered that the diner was going up for sale by overhearing a lawyer speaking to a client over lunch. When I asked the lawyer about it he said that the diner's owner was retiring and wanted to sell it as a going concern. When he told me how much it would take to buy it I did some quick calculations. If I used all of my inheritance and took out a loan for the same amount, it could work.
The lawyer encouraged me by pointing out the new highway that was being built to the east of town. There will be lots of new business.
I had been eating dinners in this place for a long time so had affection for the humble little building and the people working there.
I arranged the loan and bought the business.
I was never a popular guy. School mates avoided me. I was a geek, rail thin, long, unfashionable hair, dressed in the hand-me-downs that were purchased at a thrift shop. My immediate family was dirt poor. My father deserted my Mom and I.
My life would have been different if I had been gifted with a brilliant mind, but I was a dull, untalented slow learner.
I had just graduated from high school when my Mom died. That was when I felt truly alone. I got a job pumping gas for while but then self serve gas bars became a thing, so I lost that job. Then there was the sock factory where I swept the floors, they closed down and moved their factory to a country with cheaper labour.
An old class mate of mine was working as a waitress at the diner. Anna and I never socialized when in school, but when I ate at the diner I always tried to sit in her section. I worked up the courage to ask for a date and she accepted.
She was an average looking woman with a pretty looking figure. She had long eye lashes that she would batt at the men she served. It encouraged more generous tips.
We would go to the movies or out to a bar for dancing. She was actually very shy but she knew how to flirt to get extra tips. She even showed me some false nipples that she would wear while working. She claimed that wearing the fake erect nipples worked even better than the batted eyelashes.
After buying the business. I kept all the staff on so they could teach me how to run the place. It was making decent profits and with a new highway being built nearby our business was growing.
Because things were doing so well I asked Anna to marry me, she said yes.
Highway construction meant an abundance of workers coming in for lunch. It was wonderful for those years. Maybe it's because I'm not a really smart man, but I thought the new highways completion would have brought more business into our small town. It helped business during construction, however once the highway opened, the majority of the traffic bypassed the town. The business began to suffer.
It took five years to fully build the highway. It also took five years for Anna to be preyed upon by a now wealthy lawyer, the same guy that convinced me to buy this diner. He promised her money and a luxurious lifestyle. He kept showing up at the diner and flirting with Anna. It wasn't long after that she would have to go to visit a friend or sick relatives instead of staying home. Of course she was cheating with the flirting lawyer.
The diner began to lose money. I cut staff and trimmed expenses but it was not going to be enough. I tried to sell the business but there were no offers. A year after the highway opened, Starlight Diner closed it's doors. I ended up selling my house and the business property to a small developer for just enough to pay off the loan.
So I was out of work, with no savings and homeless. It was not a big surprise that Anna walked away from our marriage to live with the flirting lawyer. I had no assets so the divorce was simple.
I thought that as a former business owner some of my fellow entrepreneurs might hire me. Once again, my thinking was flawed. I had no where to go.
I walked into a church and spoke to the priest. He gave me a list of places that would shelter the homeless. Where to get food He prayed for me.
The shelters were full and the stories I heard from those who stayed in them made me nervous. The line up at food banks were long but with little else to do I waited. I heard a man in front of me mention a homeless camp. I followed them to see what it was all about.
There were ramshackle small huts and tents constructed of cardboard, plastic sheeting. Garbage bags, you name it. There were fires lit in barrels or on the ground. People mostly stayed in their hut when it was really cold. In summer they would find shade to cool themselves.
Daytime was spent either foraging for food or panhandling for money. I hated the panhandling because the choice locations were often run by thugs who sooner slit your throat than let you have their corner. Foraging was a fancy word for garbage picking and dumpster diving. I didn't like doing that either but it became necessary for survival.
The women in a homeless camp were subject to the same conditions as the men. Some resorted to the oldest profession of selling themselves, or I suppose renting would be more accurate. If they were half way attractive they could earn some money.
I scrounged enough resources to make myself a hut. There were parts of an old trailer that had been demolished down by the river. The company that was to take away the debris got sloppy and left me enough to make my new home.
I continued to try to find gainful employment but was not having any luck.
The options for me became fewer and less attractive. There was always crime. I could steal what I needed but deep in my heart I was an honest man. There were some homeless that would take on the odd job as an enforcer. Again not something I could do.
Finally there was always the exit option. If existence was just too much to bear then there was always the option of ending it. I wasn't there yet but my options for any kind of satisfying existence were dwindling, soon to become slim and none.
My mother used to tell me tales about the hobos. The men who ride the rails and lived in camps near the tracks. She viewed them as types of heroes. Men bucking the system, independent free men of the road. Well fuck me, I guess I was one of them.
Hopping trains used to be a thing. It isn't anymore. Security in those days was lax. In todays world of cctv it is near impossible.
I wanted to leave this town, if I couldn't do that there was always the exit option.
One day the police came through the camp. They destroyed every shelter that stood. Yes they were careful to make sure no one was in them but it was devastating. Some were arrested for fighting the police.
I was at the end of my rope. There was nothing left for me. I walked for hours contemplating, looking for any light but finding nothing but darkness.
Finding myself on the bridge over the river, I peered into the dark waters swirling far below. I edged closer, stepping over the guard rail when I heard a whimper.
Immediately to my right stood a woman. Like me she was staring into the icy water.
"Looks cold." I said to her.
"I'm afraid." She said, shivering.
"So am I."
"We're you in the camp?" I asked.
