Robert woke up a whole 7 minutes early this morning: 6:43 this morning. Of course, he had to wake up as it was Casa de Waffle's annual free waffle day. Which didn't really matter to Robert as paying the dollar and thirty seven cents that a waffle costs really was not on the list of his priorities. What was on the list however, was the young lady he bumped into the previous day. The one who fascinated him and managed to captivate him all day. The same one who shot any glimmer of productivity out of Robert for the day.
The waffle and cup of coffee were good, which is far better that average for an establishment as poorly run as Casa de Waffle. The cup of coffee, despite still being coffee, made Robert feel much better and cleared his thoughts a little bit. He settled up at the counter and left, putting his coat on as he walked out the door, stopping to hold it open for the customers walking in. He was about to let it go when a young woman walked in, smiled at him, and walked inside. She smiled a smile so enthralling Robert could hardly believe she was real. He was lost in a dumbfounded stupor as he walked out of the restaurant. He wanted to go back, he wanted to introduce himself, and he wanted to ask her if she was doing anything later but he didn't. He simple went and sat down on a bench across the street. He sat there and he waited. He waited for the young beauty to walk out so he could talk to her, and that's just what he did. He walked up beside her and introduced himself, she replied with the name "Mary", and he talked to Mary for a short while, the usual jabbering on about the whether, the traffic at the moment, and so on. And after an all too short period of time, they parted ways and Robert made her a promise, a small, harmless promise. And he left, to go do nothing with his day as he tried to do as little work as possible.
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ReplyDeleteBut Spencer didn't actually reach out to the photograph. He could have. In fact, if he had he would have felt all of that all over again: the applause, the roars, the cheers, a wooden bat in his hand and the right ball cap on his brow, not the dirty one he wore now. Instead, Spencer felt a pair of eyes watching him, so he stepped back and looked over his shoulder.
ReplyDelete"Hi there," a man said, somewhat startled that Spencer had noticed him.
Spencer thought he had said hello back, but the muscles in his neck were so constricted all the man got back was a tick of his head.
The man rolled back and forth on his heels once. He seemed to take his time, trying to think of something to say, like he felt something needed to be said. Spencer just wished he would go away.
"Baseball stuff, huh?" the man said.
"Yeah," Spencer managed to say aloud, "Just some old baseball stuff."
"You know that guy?" Spencer was asked.
Spencer responded truthfully when he said, "No."
"It's kind of neat picture, huh?" the man said. "The kid looks like he's on top of the world."
Spencer clamped his jaw shut. "How do you think that feels?" he asked, taking his eyes off the man to look at the photograph.
The man did not answer. He thought quietly to himself. Spencer thought quietly to himself as well.
After a long silence the man asked, "Mind if I take it?"
Spencer's eyes shot to the man.
"The photograph, I mean. I don't know if you want it..." the man said.
"Take it, by all means," Spencer heard a voice say, but he could not remember moving his own lips.
Spencer watched the man approach the box. He watched as the middle-aged man gripped the frame by either side and lifted it from its sanctuary of a box. Spencer watched and, as the frame came free of its cardboard confine, he felt a wave of sound hit him square in the back. He felt a crowd exhale in a collective cheer and though it came as just a breath on his back, it reverberated like a shout in the Colosseum.
"I'm Spencer, by the way," Spencer said to the man, turning his body so it faced the man retreating out of the Prado.
"Robert Whittlesey," the man responded.
The two men left not believing how much they had said to such a complete stranger.