I pick the dishes up off the table and notice the table beside me has a mom and daughter waiting politely. The little girl is wearing a bright pink tutu and I smile.
"Has anyone come by to take your order?" I ask as I walk by. "You're all tucked away in the corner."
"Nope. Not yet, and we actually requested this spot." The woman laughs.
"Oh. Well okay I'm just going to drop these dishes off and I'll be right back to help you." As I enter the kitchen I see Erin cleaning the stack of menus. "Hey why has nobody helped the little ballerina couple?"
She laughs. "The what?"
"The mom and girl. Over in the corner."
"Oh yeah. The little one was kinda panicking when she first got here so they needed a minute. Are you helping other tables right now? Want me to step in?"
I laugh. "Erin. It's like 3pm on a Tuesday. We only have one couple at 8 and these two at 14. The couple have their food so I think I can handle two tables." I roll my eyes and grab a new pad of paper as my old one only has a few sheets left. "Have you talked to your mom yet about the upgrade to tablets?"
"Yeah. As I told Dakota the other day, she says if we did that my grandma would be rolling over in her grave to know that we're spending money on things like that."
"That's a little dramatic." I laugh. "But this will do for now. Be right back."
"I'll bet she orders a chocolate milk and an ice tea."
"Hm. Nah I think she looks like an apple juice kinda kid." I hum.
We do this sometimes. Make bets on what we think the customers will order. Disappointingly, I'm usually wrong about it.
"Okay. I bet you a free early leave."
I make a noise. "I bet you washroom cleaning duties on a closing shift."
She stretches out her hand with a snort. "Done."
"On a Saturday night." I add. Those are the nights that everyone gets plastered. Puke cleanup happens at least 5x on the late shift.
Her hand falters a bit as she thinks it over for a second. "I'm pretty confident."
"Alright. Deal." I shake her hand and head over there.
"Hey guys. I'm Kasey and I'll be your server. How's it going today?"
"Pretty good." The mom smiles.
The little girl seems very shy, just looking down at her hands.
"Did you just come from ballet class? I'm actually also a ballerina." I lean down to talk to her.
She doesn't say anything, just begins to hum softly.
No response. Hm. I'm usually good with kids.
"I've been dancing since I was a bit younger than you. I love to dance." I smile at her, trying again.
The little girl doesn't make eye contact, but says: "I can dance."
"Good! So what can I get you two for drinks?" I change the topic.
Her mom smiles. "I'll have an iced tea and Lili here will get a chocolate milk, right?"
"I can dance." Lili repeats, beginning to rock slowly. "I CAN dance."
I nod. "Okay, I will be right back."
I return to find the little girl out of her chair and spinning around. I put down the drinks quickly as the little girl tugs on my apron. "I can dance."
I laugh and grab one of her sticky hands as she spins, giving her mom an apologetic look.
"Usually she doesn't take to people very quickly. She's rather antisocial." Her mom looks on with amusement.
"Oh really? Which class does she take then?"
The mom looks down for a second. "She's not in a ballet class."
"Oh? I know they can be quite pricey, so there's a couple foundations to help you out." I inform.
"Not for her. No class or club will let Lili dance, even though she loves it."
I immediately stop moving. "What?"
"I'm not sure you noticed, but Lili has ASD. She functions well for a kid with autism but sometimes she will have meltdowns, and being around loud noises or people can get overwhelming."
I feel a frown cross my face, my heart breaking a bit as I look down at the spinning child. "That's a real shame. They shouldn't be allowed to deny entry because of disabilities."
Her mom sighs again, as Lili stops dancing and sits back up on her chair, looking at her chocolate milk.
"I understand that ballet is a very competitive area, but we actually find that dance makes her so happy, and it really helps her express herself in ways that she has trouble in usually."
I feel myself start to get really upset by this.
"Lili doesn't realize why she can't be in dance classes, so we just let her dress up and have fun with it. Usually it's hard for her to interact with other kids, but we get together with a few other disabled kids in the area and they all dance or play and have a lot of fun."
I guess I never realized how hard life was for people who don't have connections like I do, famous mothers. I find my anger morph into guilt.
"There's a bunch of kids being denied entry just because they have a disability!?"
"She needs extra supervision so that's their reasoning. And yeah. They do this to disabled kids all the time. There's a lil girl down the street that is in a wheelchair and she wishes she could dance too, she's in our play group. They won't let her. She has tourettes. She can't stand for long periods of time or she'll fall down so she's in the chair, but dancing gives her brain something else to focus on and her tics don't happen much when she's dancing, but they still won't take her."
"That's really sad." I sigh. "I'm sorry, I had no idea how things were."
"I can dance." Lili repeats, poking her finger in her chocolate milk. My heart breaks even more as I watch.
"Anyway. That's just life." Her mom wipes off Lili's chocolatey hand, and orders lunch.
"I'll be back. Thanks for sharing that with me." I find myself walking with purpose to the kitchen, and as I burst through the door, both Jacque and Erin jump.
"Are you still mad I won the bet?" Erin chuckles. "Because you really don't need to take it out on the door."
"You know the ballet kid at table 14?" I start, trying to not get too mad.
"Yeah?"
"She doesn't do ballet!"
Jacque puts his airpod back in, mumbling: "yeah this is something I can never be interested in."
I ignore him. "She CAN'T do ballet, because she's autistic."
Erin gives me a sympathetic look. "That's a bummer."
"Yeah. Did you know that they're incredibly picky on who they let into a class?"
"Yes." She gives me a 'duh' look.
"Disabled kids. They want to dance, or the dancing or the music helps them, but because they may require special help or attention, nobody will take that in. It's not fucking fair, Erin."
"Yeah. Sweetie I know this is hard for you, but being denied entry for any number of reasons is typical and commonly happens to us without famous parents." Erin pats my shoulder.
"Well it needs to change."
"I agree, but you know how many online petitions there are that are begging for disabled equality?"
"I'm not talking about a petition, Erin. I'm going to make a dance studio."
She gasps and drops the cutlery she has bundled in her hands. "Uh..What?"
"I quit." Clearly fiery Kasey has come out, and I know I'm not thinking rationally but I don't care. "I'm going to start a studio, dedicated to the people that want to dance, but are being rejected for stupid reasons. Doesn't matter the age, I know I can find other people in this field that care about this as much as I do and are willing to teach, or help out somehow."
"Okay woah woah woah back up. Don't quit. I'll give you a raise."
I frown at her. "Erin I love you and I love working here, but this feels like something that just is right. I need to do this, and extra money isn't going to change my mind."
"Yeah no you can stay working here, I'll cut your hours while you form an actual plan, but something like this really requires money."
I sigh, she has a good point. "Okay. I appreciate it so much."
"And hey, listen. I want to be a part of this. I can't quit here, for obvious reasons, so I'll just help out. I can't work there, but I support this idea. I want to be a part of something like this. I think this is an awesome idea." Erin reaches in for a hug and I grab her tight.
"Uh, hey. I'm not sure what all I missed there, but the order for 14 is ready..." Jacque chuckles uncomfortably.
I hear the service bell at the front, meaning we have a new customer, so Erin and I break apart and head in opposite directions, me with a new pep in my step.
This matters. I'm going to make a real difference in people's lives.
___________________________________________
Hey guys!
I hope y'all are doing great today.
I know this is kinda a subject that not a lot of people touch on when writing, but it's something near and dear to my heart so when this idea first popped into my head I KNEW I needed to write it in.
I did try my best, doing several hours of research to ensure that all the information was correct, to my knowledge, and wouldn't offend anyone!
If I made a mistake, PLEASE don't hesitate to PM me or comment!
and, as always, VOTE if you liked this chapter!
I love you all so very much!
Cass