​How Are You?

“So honey, how are you?” she said,as my fork dances across the plate.“Are you eating enough, my dear?”I told her I’m full, and I already ate. The tired waitress refills our coffee,And tells us a joke, it’s funny, but none of us laugh.I tell her kindly I’ve had enough,and ask instead if she’ll bring me a coke.

“Of course,” the waitress replies, a little dejected,like she almost wants to cry.My eyes scatter across the room, and fix onan old man playing the lottery by the bar nearby.

His hands shake as each number is scratched away,The waitress approaches and tries,to tell a joke, maybe, she thinks, it will make his day.He says nothing, scratching off the last of the bright colored ink, the old man’s eyes grow wide and he hangs his head.

“You know I’m praying for you, Bub.”She interrupts my thoughts as I look back across the table.I solemnly nod my head and reassure her that I still believeShe goes back to eating and again my eyes wander.

I see a family of four, two boys, a brown haired woman, and a relatively young manThey look happy at first but then I noticeThe wife is on her phone and the man begins to clench his fistsThe waitress approaches to give them water and starts to tell a joke.

The man interrupts her, saying he doesn’t like his steak.“I apologize, sir, would you like something else to eat?” She kindly repliesThe man says that it’s fine, and he’ll eat it anyway.The kids sit perfectly still, and the woman never looks up from her phone. The man takes another bite and hangs his head.

“Have you talked to your Mom recently?”Once again, I look back across the tableAn old Elvis song plays throughout the cafe And I tell her, “No”I look down at my cold eggs, and she goes back to eating, she’s almost done. My eyes once again stray from the table and in the corner of the dinerI notice a lone woman with a black dog. She’s wearing thick glasses, and her dog has a red vest. She turns her head and looks right at meI nod my head, and she quickly looks away.The waitress brings the woman her dinner and she fumbles around the table, looking for a fork. The waitress begins to tell a joke, and the dog starts barking.“That’ll be all, thank you.”The woman curtly repliesShe lays her hands on her dogs fur and still without finding a fork, she hangs her head.

“You will be okay, Bub, I know you will. God loves you.”Longingly, I smile, and tell her, “I know.”She’s finally finished eating, and the waitress returns to our table to bring the check.“Is there anything else I can do for you, folks?” The waitress asks in earnest.I look down at my cold eggs and half drunk coke, and ask her, “Actually, yes, what is your name?”The waitress pauses for a moment to think about the question. Rain drops begins pelting the window beside our tableShe fidgets with her hands, and nervously says,“I am…” My grandmother peers across the table

And with a deep sigh, I hang my head.

J.D.Y