Author's note:
This is part of the special
750 Word Project 2022
. All entries are limited to exactly 750 words, which is (intentionally) very short. Read them all, and remember that all the authors appreciate your time, your vote, and your comments. Enjoy!
'It's nice to be a regular,' I thought as I walked in. Without even looking away from the customer she was ringing up, Joy got two to-go containers for me and held them out. I grabbed them without even breaking my stride.
It was a cozy Chinese buffet restaurant in a busy shopping plaza anchored by a supermarket. Joy was the owner, and had smartly made it possible to buy to-go food by the pound. Almost every Friday, I'd get groceries first, then go in, get almost exactly $7 of food for the evening and enjoy an always too brief hello-goodbye with Joy. I ate in occasionally too, but only if I had a date.
The restaurant was popular and busy, so in the ten years I'd been eating there, I had never had a conversation longer than five words with Joy. The years added up though, and we gradually learned more about one another. I was thrilled the first time she said something personable. And she seemed thrilled the time I complimented her new haircut. She once asked me where the lady was, when after my divorce, I started going there alone. Then as time passed and I started dating again, she'd laugh and provide feedback at the next visit, whenever I had taken a date to the restaurant. "Twice, same girl? Getting serious!" she joked once. We knew one another, even with barely a word spoken.
It was almost closing time this time, so I had to get my $7 worth of food first, then my groceries. As I was leaving the supermarket, I looked across the parking lot and saw her by her car, frustratedly going through the seven stages of denial that she'd locked her keys in her car. I put my groceries in the trunk and walked over, calling out as I walked to avoid alarming her. She looked relieved to see me.
She had AAA with coverage for batteries and lockouts, so she called. It would be somewhere between 15 minutes and 3 hours, she was told.
I waited with her, and we had our very first actual conversation. Her English was excellent, the only occasional language barrier being slang terms, especially sports analogies. So, I adjusted my game plan and stopped throwing my slang curveballs her way. I was in the zone!
She was intelligent, fascinating, and funny. She had been an engineer in China, but by the time companies in America started recognizing overseas degrees, she was making too much money with the restaurant to go back to engineering.
