Diner Talk

Three: Bunny Butt

Sang

"You guys?" The boy made a face, nose wrinkling. It called attention to the smattering of freckles on his nose, which almost blended into his tan skin. "You're not from around here, huh?" His accent was thicker than I expected. I blushed and shook my head.

"I'm from just outside Chicago." I had lived less than an hour from downtown Chicago, so it wasn't a lie, even though I had practically lived on farmland. "My friends like to joke that I sound like the wet bandits from Home Alone." He snorted.

"I sort of get it. We're from Alabama originally." He gestured to himself and the two little boys, who were making spaceship noises and completely ignoring us. "So some of the regional minutiae is lost on me. But old ladies like the accent, so." He shrugged his shoulders.

I smiled and pulled out my notepad. "So what are y'all—" I emphasized my very Northern accent then, and he laughed. —looking to drink?"

"I'll have a coke." I went to write that down before I remembered that this was the south. They called every kind of pop 'coke', even when it was wrong.

"What kind?" He grinned at me.

"We'll make a Southerner out of you yet. A Sprite, please. Tweedle Dee over here will have chocolate milk and Tweedle Dum would prefer a..." He glanced at the menu. "Grape juice, please."

"Wait!" The little boy closest to me shouted, spreading his arms out dramatically. "Is it the white grape juice or the purple grape juice?" He stared at me intently with huge eyes.

"We have both. Whatever you prefer I'll get you." He beamed, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Can I have the purple grape juice please?" I nodded and wrote it down.

"What do we say, Joshua?"

"Thank you, miss!" I was utterly charmed by this little boy already. I'd never spent much time around kids younger than Jessica, so he was easily the cutest little boy I'd ever spoken to.

"You're welcome. I'll be right back with those drinks for you guys." I smiled triumphantly as I walked away.

I had done it. I had been friendly and courteous and hadn't messed up yet. I grabbed another set of menus and reached table nine still beaming, but my smile slipped some when I saw who I was serving.

It was two adult men, and I saw one of them stare at my chest while the other focused on my legs. I remembered my frilly strawberry socks and why I was wearing them. "Welcome to Bob's Diner, my name is Sang. What can I get you to drink?"

"I'll take a tall glass of water." said the one on the left. He tilted his head. "Well, a short glass of water actually. You're what, four eleven?" I bristled. I was five foot two and a half.

"A regular glass of water or one in a coffee cup?" He chose the regular glass. "And for you, sir?"

"Diet Pepsi." I wrote it down, and almost made my retreat, but he grabbed my arm before I could leave, and I turned back to them. His grip was just a little too tight. "We're ready to order."

"What can I get for you?" The left man grinned lecherously, and I suppressed a shiver.

"Well I don't see you on the menu, so I'll take a cheeseburger deluxe, no pickle. Medium." I wrote it down and looked at his companion.

"Same. Well done, keep the pickle." He was not very verbose, and for that I was grateful.

I turned away to get the drinks for my last two tables. I let my shoulders relax a little, focusing on not looking bothered. "Nice bunnies." I almost stopped in my tracks, but I took a breath and kept walking away from the men at table nine. Those bunnies were on my back pockets.