Ways to Cope (Short Stories)

The Sunrise Diner

Thursday 4:11am, October, 1998

I work the 3:00am-10:00am shift at the Sunrise Diner. I'm the newest hire, and therefore I get the worst hours. But I don't have many options. Hospital bills have to be paid.

There is one good part about the opening shift at Sunrise though. Every morning, she comes in, dark bags under her eyes, hijab wrinkled, with her bag and her badge. I'm pretty sure she's an air traffic controller from the airport half an hour away, although I've never asked. There's something calmly beautiful about her, strong but feminine. She comes in at 4:15am most days, but sometimes she's late. She's always after the weird old white guy who tries to touch my cornrows and before the "early bird" suburban entrepreneur mom who does her stupid journaling here.

She walks in today at 4:11am. She takes her normal seat at the bartop, and I stroll over. The only other person here is a construction worker who looks like he's having a mid-life crisis. "Hey, darlin'," I say, leaning my forearms on the counter.

"Hi," she says, slumping down on the table.

"Long night?"
"Yes. One chai tea please."

"Yes ma'am," I say, turning around to the kitchen. It's just me right now. The real cook comes in at 6:00am. I wish I could talk to her more, but I've never worked up the nerve. She looks too cool, too accomplished for me.

I come back to her stool, handing her a warm, steaming mug. "I like your scarf," I said, hoping to spark a conversation.

She sipped her tea and mumbled, "Thanks." After a moment, she added, "I like your hair. And your piercing."

She stared at my nose ring as she said that, and I wasn't sure if it was sarcastic or not. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Tuesday, 4:17am, November, 1998

The bell jingled as the girl walked in, rubbing her hands together in her mittens. I smiled as she came up to the bartop, like always. She set her bag on the stool next to her.

"Mornin'," I said, tossing a rag over my shoulder.

"Mmm. Can I get one chai tea?"

"Of course." I wondered what she liked so much about chai tea. I hated it. Black coffee always did the trick for me. The black coffee at the hospital was terrible, but I was always exhausted when I went to visit. They forced my hand, and I always bought a coffee from them anyways.

I set her tea down, and was going to continue my work, but she said, "Hey, I like your nose ring."

"Yeah, I know. You said that yesterday."

"I did?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

Wednesday 4:21, November, 1998

"One chai?" I asked her as she sat at the high counter.

"Yeah." She sat, but looked confused for a second. "How'd you know?"

"It's what you always get."

"You remember?"

"Of course I remember. Not a ton of people come in at 4 in the morning, girl. I remember the ones who do. And you're a regular."

She nodded, and folded in on herself to conserve the heat. It was snowing outside, casting a crisp white skin over everything. It seemed to lay a blanket of quiet over the world, but it might have just been the early morning haze. So I served her up her tea, which had already been done for a minute. I had expected her.