Mental

36 | s n a t c h i n g

"When we lose these woods, we lose our soul. Not simply as individuals, but as a people."

― Kevin Walker

/ / l o u i s / /

I look ahead as Evelyn downs everything on her plate. I've been so busy watching her that I haven't even touched my food, yet. She puts a forkful of eggs into her mouth, chews and drinks a few sips of her coffee. Since the waitress brought our plates about ten minutes ago, Evelyn hasn't looked up from her plate and she hasn't spoken a word. I pick up my fork and just when I do, she quickly glances at me before looking back down at her plate. I stab my eggs and put them in my mouth, chewing them slowly. Evelyn picks up her butter knife and starts cutting up her waffles.

"Slow down," I whisper. "You can choke and we don't want to cause a scene."

She shakes her head, "I can't slow down. Not when the food is this good."

"It's not that good."

"Well, maybe it's because I'm starving," she stops talking and begins to eat her waffle.

I pick up my mug and take a few sips of my coffee. Hopefully, the caffeine will kick in soon and I'll be wide awake. At the current moment, I look and feel tired. Evelyn looks twice as bad and she must feel the same way. I really hope no one notices how bad we look and suspect something wrong. I put two forkfuls of eggs into my mouth and bite into my hash brown. Like Evelyn, I'm starving, too. She finishes off her waffles and places her hands on her lap. I notice she is looking at me and I look down at my plate.

"Do you want one of my waffles?"

"Oh, no," she shakes her head. "You need to eat."

"Your health is much more important that mine." I claim. "If you're still hungry, take one of my waffles."

"Your health is important, too, Louis. Eat your food."

"I insist," I push my plate toward her and she looks away. I don't care about my health. Hers is way more important and if something happens to her because of poor health, I don't know what I would do. Harry would probably kill me for letting her get that way. I need her to get full. Evelyn shakes her head when I push the plate at her again. "Please?"

She pushes the plate back, "Eat your food, Louis."

"But you're getting thin," I tell her. "You're losing weight."

"And so are you," she whispers. She picks up my fork and hands it to me. "Who knows when we'll eat this good again? Enjoy every last minute of it. I have and now it's your turn."

I begin to slice my waffles and Evelyn begins to look at the space around us. I slowly eat my food to get us more time. I don't know how this is going to work. Evelyn could walk out of here first and then I could leave a few minutes later. Would that work? I look back at her and she is drinking the rest of her coffee.

The waitress comes back to the table, "How is everything?" 

This is her fourth time coming to check up on us. I'm beginning to worry. Why does she keep coming back? She needs to mind her own business and stay away from our table until we ask for the check.

Even though that'll never happen.

Evelyn clears her throat, "It's wonderful. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," the waitress smiles. "Let me know if I can get you anything, okay?" 

We nod in unison until she turns around to walk away. Evelyn picks her mug back up and I go back to eating the rest of my food. I look behind her to see a door that leads to the parking lot.