Reality's Escape: a collection of short stories

Sue's Place

Sue smiled sweetly at them. "Lindsay! Right on time for your shift. Thanks for dropping her off, Mark!"

The burly man dubbed Mark nodded and left. The girl wrapped her skinny arms around herself, and Sue ushered her into the kitchen. Trina shot a text to Gary—one of her outside guys—to watch the back door. Something wasn't right. But then the kitchen door opened, and the skinny girl brought over her coffee. Her hand shook and her tangled hair was hanging in her face, so Trina wasn't surprised at all when some of the coffee spilled onto the table. The girl didn't even apologize, just ran back to the kitchen.

The coffee that stayed in the cup was actually really good. Gary said the back door hadn't moved. Supper time came around, and Trina finally had some company. Two men and three woman dragged enough chairs to one table and sat together. They talked quietly. Trina put her earbuds in but didn't play anything, and eventually they got louder.

"There by seven o'clock, no later," the shorter man was saying. "Cassie said his routine is the same every night. He doesn't suspect a thing."

The group didn't stay very long, and Trina left behind them. She followed them at a distance. Gary was left to watch the restaurant.

Trina watched the cars pull up quietly beside the road, and she drove past and parked a block away before sneaking back on foot. Whispers met her ears as she rounded the neighbouring house and peeked over the bushes.

Then they started to sing. She poked her head out further and saw the whole group from the restaurant, as well as others she had never seen before. They were singing a hymn! An old man came to the door and smiled and started crying.

Trina shook her head, annoyed, and tiptoed around the back of the house. Everything looked fine in the backyard; no one else was sneaking around. Then her phone rang.

She fumbled for it—Gary was calling—and shut it off, but not soon enough. The singing halted. She bolted. A few people followed her, and she dashed through a few backyards and leaped a couple fences before scaling a tree. Her pursuers abandoned the search while she texted Gary.

Apparently, a van had pulled up to Sue's place. The girl had been escorted inside, and he was following them.

She let herself down from the tree and ran for her car. She recognized Gary's car as the van in front of him pulled into a nice-looking house.

A middle-aged man and women got out of the van first. Then the skinny girl stepped out, but she was no longer shaking. She was wearing enough clothes now, and her hair was shiny and smooth in the porch light. Trina saw her give the couple a little smile as they invited her inside.

She drove back slowly, planning on driving past the restaurant, but the lights were still on. She parked and went inside, planning to pretend she had lost something and was looking for it here.

The sound that greeted her was like an "Oh!" and her eyes adjusted in time to see Sue straightening up from the same place the raggedy boys had been sweeping.

"What are you doing?" Trina demanded. Her good, unassuming hoodie was dirty and had a tear in the sleeve, and her perfectly normal auburn hair had leaves in it, and nothing had gone right all day.

The little old lady smiled sweetly and asked if she had come back for more coffee.

The honest answer was yes, but Trina lied and said no. "What are you doing?"

Sue wrung her hands on her stained apron, but the pocket jingled, and Trina pushed past her and knelt to the floor. She pried up the loose board to find a collection of coins.

"Where did this come from? Do those boys get it for you?"

"Oh, no." The little old lady transformed into a terrifying spectre, frowning and shaking her finger. "Don't you dare tell a soul. Those boys are saving up to get their little sister a new dress for school."

"Where do they get it from? Are they stealing?"

"Goodness, no! They work odd jobs for people, and some money they find in the street."

"So they keep it here, and you get your cut?"

"Young lady, you are on my premises without a search warrant. I suggest you leave."

Trina huffed. "What are you doing here? Your food is terrible. Your cleanup crew are raggedy little urchins. Your employees are skinny street girls that get smuggled away. Your only customers are a couple of church people that don't look like church people. How are you still in business?"

The little old lady shook her head. "People don't come here for the food; so please, if you don't want coffee, I want to head to bed."

The failed detective headed out the door and sat in her car. Through the streaky windows, she watched Sue get back down on the floor, pry up the board, and empty her apron pocket into it.

Since Trina had blown her cover, Gary watched the restaurant alone for a few more days. The raggedy boys came back almost every day. One day, they seemed more excited than usual, and he followed them to a mall. They picked out a pretty blue dress and disappeared down an alleyway.

Sue's place continued to operate for another ten years, but then the little old lady died. A retired detective bought the restaurant. She kept the name and the quality of cooking—the food was truly atrocious—but she made good coffee.