Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Birdsong

Birdsong was just waking up when we stumbled into town the next day. Open signs for tiny little shops were just getting flipped over and freestanding chalkboards with the special of the day were getting put outside the doors of the small cafe and the diner. The people performing these tasks gave us curious glances but otherwise let us pass without a word.

We hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I headed toward the small diner with my boys trailing behind me and Snapdragon hiding in my jacket pocket.

I looked around the place as we walked in. It was cute. Red booths lined the walls and there were a couple stools pulled up to the bar. It had a cozy feel to it and I found a slight smile slipping on my face as we slid into one of the booths.

This felt normal. It was something that normal humans got to experience often, some probably even did this everyday. I had to smile because I was finally doing something that normal humans would normally do. Normal humans went to cute little diners for breakfast. Normal humans sat in little booths just like this one and examined a menu of things that they could probably make at home but were too lazy to do so. Normal humans would see this as normal. 

"New faces are a bit of a rarity around here," said a smiling girl as she handed menus to each of us, "I actually need to introduce myself. My name is Kate and I will be your server when you're ready. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

My boys looked at me and I thought about our funds for a second before saying, "Just water, thank you."

She seemed slightly perplexed when she looked to each of my boys and got the same answer, but she took our order without a word before walking away.

"Don't order something that costs too much. We don't know how long it will take to get jobs and I don't wasn't us running out of money because we went out to eat and spent seventy dollars on meals."

"Yes, Al... Rosie," Arsen said.

A few minutes later Kate came back with our water. After setting it down she pulled out a note pad and a pencil, "Are you ready to order?" she asked looking directly at me. Something inside me was pleased with this gesture. It was showing that she knew I was in charge to look directly at me first, and that put a small feeling of pleasure in the pit of my stomach.

"Yes, I would like a cheese omelet with uncooked mushrooms on the side and fruit instead of hash-browns." She wrote it down quietly before looking to my boys for their orders.

I felt Snapdragon climbing out of my pocket slowly and sit on my leg under the table. The raw mushrooms and fruit were for her and she knew it.

"Is that all?" Kate asked looking around the table.

"No, do you know if anyone's hiring?"

"This is a lumber town, boys can usually get on a lumber crew, but you may not like that so much. Let me think about it. Are you moving here?"

"Might be. Depends on how long it takes to find work," I said with a slight smile, "I like the idea of living in a small town. I just need a small town that I can get a job in."

"Well, I'll think about it for you," Kate said with a smile before turning around and walking away. 

Arsen watched her go before looking at me with a completely serious expression, "We can't cut down trees for a living."

"No, I understand that. We might just need to find somewhere else... We'll look around first to see what we can find. If there's nothing good in the next couple of days we'll start looking for another town."

The boys looked sad at the possibility of not finding anything, but they didn't comment further. 

Kate came back a few minutes later with our food. Without a word, she set it down in front of us and left again.