Restaurant Open (standard:romance, 195 words)
Author: J. Nicklaus	Added: Jun 03 2007	Views/Reads: 3404/0	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Alone at a two-person table on State Street.

A small table, flanked by two single-person seats. Dividers of glass and
brass stretch towards the front of the restaurant, three simple 
rectangles that seem to get smaller as they extend towards the 
vanishing point. 

Outside, evening descends upon State Street; my table faces
perpendicular to the street itself allowing an almost surrealistic view 
of the entrance. The neon-red OPEN sign gently glows, its letters in 
reverse, painting a Hopperesque image of downtown being lulled to 
another nights pensive sleep, traffic and passersby providing the 
strained lullaby. 

Across the table, a basket of bread and crackers, and trying to hide
from view, my crumpled overcoat, occupying the seat where you should 
be. 

I shouldn't be able to look to the street. My eyes shouldn't catch the
neon sign in the divider glass as it mirrors the letters so they're 
right-reading: RESTAURANT OPEN. 

I shouldn't be able to hear the music blurred into the hum of
conversation. 

I should be able to look across the table and into your eyes. 

I should hear the sweetness of your voice, soft like cotton, smooth and
luxurious as silk. 

Perhaps I shouldn't miss you this much... 

But I do.


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