"Okay, I got one for you."
I sighed and leaned forward over the counter refilling her coffee cup. Anna was a regular, the regular girl was gone so I was pulling double duty at the grill and behind the counter.
"Shoot," I said, putting a new filter in the machine and then pulling a half-pint of milk out of the cooler for her kid, Alec.
"Alec," she said. "Ear muffs."
Alec smiled and covered his ears, smiling gleefully at his mother.
"Places to do it in public and not get caught, thoughts?"
I sucked my bottom lip. It was past the morning rush, Anna's favorite time to talk uninterrupted about sex. I chewed my toothpick a moment and pointed at the kid.
She nodded and waved. Alec took his hands from his ears and picked a yellow straw from the holder as I opened his milk, thoughtfully.
"Parks," I said, casually. "But that only works at night."
She nodded. "Yeah, thought of that one, too." She shrugged. "Shame."
"Rooftops?"
"Oh, nice. You have access in your building?"
The front bell rang, two older women came in and took seats at the end of the bar. I ran down to take their order and pour each of them a glass of water. I walked by and she said simply, "Hotel elevators?"
I through some bacon on the griddle and four slices of toast, considering. "If you could guarantee they'd stay stuck," I countered.
"I was thinking, about one of those glass ones that they have in, like, atriums of big hotels, you know."
I nodded, flipping the strips of bacon and the toast before grabbing some lettuce from the bin and some mayo from the cooler. I through the fries in the basket and pressed them down. "Yeah," I said. "Ride it up to the top and just watch the people down below. That's a good one."
"What are you guys talking about?"
Anna smiled. "Mommy and her friend are just spit-balling, honey." She took out her purse and dug around a minute before giving him two quarters and pointing toward the gumball machine. "Get one for you and one for mommy, too, okay?"
The kid leapt off the counter chair with glee and a pop of his sneakers on the linoleum. She turned back, her gaze focused on me through the window. I took the bacon of the griddle and blotted it. "Movie theaters still work, don't they? Like after the shows been running a few weeks. Sit in the back, maybe?"
She smirked. "Don't you need more room than a seat allows?"
I eyed the two old ladies at the end of the counter. I put the bacon and lettuce on the bread, smearing little dollops of mayo before capping the BLTs and running to meet the fries as they came out of the vat. Over my shoulder I saw Alec climbing up on the stool handing his mom a pink gumball. "Try and find one with armrests that come up," I said, returning to the griddle and speaking out the window. "Angle may be a bit awkward, but..." I shrugged.
"Telephone booths?"
"Can you find any these days, Mrs. iPhone?" I leered at her as I took the two plates around the corner and down the way to the women. One asked for a coke. I went down and took one out of the front cooler and uncapped it, taking it down to her.
I came back and took one out for myself.
"I always wanted to in a restaurant."
I shook my head. "You can get away with stuff in a restaurant, but not that much."
"I know. Still, it's a fantasy, right?"
I nodded.
"Anyway, we're just talking about it, you know. Not like we'd actually do it, right? We got a backyard with a hedge..."
"On top of the water tower."
"Nice one. Ever done that?"
"No. Did the elevator train in Chicago once."
"Full car or empty car?"