Herman's Day at the Beach (standard:other, 3163 words) [4/4] show all parts
Author: Jim Spence	Added: Sep 09 2003	Views/Reads: 2586/1943	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Part 4 in the Herman series ...

Herman's Day at the Beach 

Herman knew that the day would be long, and tedious, and ordinary.  Most
Fridays seemed to crawl by, but this one was even worse.  Herman had 
needed something to break the monotony of his ordinary life, so he'd 
decided to spend this coming Saturday at the beach, and he was going to 
leave early the next morning. 

Herman hadn't been out of the city in months.  He'd taken a trip to New
Jersey to visit his brother at Christmas, but he felt so out of place 
there.  He loved his nieces and nephews, but somehow he didn't feel 
comfortable around them.  Strange, because Herman was such a kid at 
heart himself. 

He got back to his third floor walk up on the lower east side about the
usual time that evening.  He had already gotten the things together 
that he would need for his one day, one night trip.  Herman was always 
very meticulous about his clothes, and just because he was going to 
spend a (hopefully) relaxing day by the ocean didn't stop him from 
packing, and repacking, his small suitcase with everything he thought 
he'd need. 

Herman had needed a vacation.  His ordinary life had become quite more
ordinary than he'd wanted lately ... the air conditioner in his small 
apartment would take spells of working and not working, Millie at the 
diner had been out of town herself for over a week, and his television 
was in such a sad state of affairs that he had to watch every program 
in black and white. 

Funny, he didn't seem to mind the black and white programs so much. 
Herman's life was played out daily in black and white; his television 
was just an extension of that. 

Herman had planned on buying his toiletries for his trip that evening
after dinner.  After all, since Herman had spent the last few months 
either cooped up in his apartment with its broken air conditioner and 
almost broken television, or sitting behind his desk at work, he hadn't 
gotten much sun at all and was going to need a very strong suntan 
lotion. 

His walk to the diner was a pleasant one.  Thoughts of his upcoming trip
were playing through his mind (along with thoughts of Millie ... but 
that's another story), so he didn't realize for quite awhile that the 
walk was taking much longer than it usually did. 

Herman suddenly stopped ... and discovered that he had no idea where he
was.  He had been so busy daydreaming that he didn't realize he had 
passed the diner on foot long ago, and had walked 10 blocks past it. 

“Oh, that's just great” thought Herman “now I'll miss the dinner special
at the diner.” 

But, that worry quickly vanished when he considered that today was
Friday, and the special at the diner was fish.  Herman didn't really 
like fish, but had eaten it every Friday for as long as he could 
remember. 

Herman made it to the diner going on 9:00 pm.  It always felt strange to
walk into the diner and not see Millie, because her face was there each 
evening, brightening the hearts of all she served. 

Millie's replacement was Ethel, a crotchety woman in her mid 60s.  He'd
heard that Ethel had been the waitress at the diner years ago, long 
before Herman and Millie had ever walked through the doors.  Ethel was 
nice enough, but slower than honey in Antarctica.  “Oh, well” thought 
Herman “at least with Millie gone, I don't have to eat fish.”  Besides, 
he figured, he could have fresh fish at the beach tomorrow, even if he 
didn't like it. 

Ethel didn't set any land speed records serving Herman that evening; in
fact, Herman didn't finish until 9:45 pm.  He knew that Mr. Hale's 
market would close at 10:00, so he paid his bill, left a tip (not quite 
as generous as the tip he ordinarily left for Millie), and made his way 
quickly to Mr. Hale's market. 



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