Tam's Grab and Go

Denny checked her watch again. It was five o'five. The cafe door jingled as someone walked it. Denny leaned out passed the tables blocking her view. A man leaned out across from her, and continued to block her view. He seemed to be looking right through her.

Denny turned around and then back at the man. There was nothing behind her. She furrowed her brow as she leaned out more from her seat to get a look at the new customer. She caught a glimpse of a yellow purse. Nash would have something like that. But she couldn't see the person, her view was still blocked.

Denny's eyes adjusted. It was the man's head again still blocking her view. He was looking at her. She was sure of it now. His watery sea glass green eyes unblinkingly stared her down. This guy was in his fifties at least, wasting his time taunting me, Denny thought to herself.

"Hey," she said as she gestured for him to move back in.

He said nothing. His expression didn't change. His eyes didn't blink.

Denny looked to his table, to the other man as his table.

"Hey, sir, man," the man didn't move. She saw passed him to the the torso in the opposite chair. The man staring at her wasn't leaning out at all. His neck was four feet long, and he was still staring.

This wasn't the first time the giraffe people tried to stop her from catching up with a friend. She'd spent enough time dealing with them that she'd figured out their weakness. Their necks grow out only so quickly, so you just have to be faster than them.

Before the sea glass green-eyed quiquagenarian giraffe man could read the thought in her eye, she ran out from her table to catch a glimpse of Nash. She could still see the yellow purse, but the figure was on the other side of the barista.

Denny kept running, certain she would get a better angle on the new customer before the staring head blocked her view again. Then, something drew her eyes down. The head was on the ground staring up at her. Before she could stop herself, her suede purple puma shoes which she got half off at an outlet, got caught on the head and she fell face first into the tile floor. The world was spinning. For second she thought she could see the face of Nash behind the barista, but her vision was blurred and growing dimmer.

Denny woke with a gasp in her chair. It was getting dark outside. She checked her watch. Nine PM! How is the cafe even open this late? Nash said she'd be here at four. Denny looked up to the table next to her. The two men were still there, but the giraffe man was paying her no mind. She thought about confronting him, but she was worried he'd trip her again.

Before the man could notice her, Denny slipped out the back of the cafe. She would just go through the front and get a table closer to the door. No giraffe people, clear sight of whoever walked in, it would be perfect.

The cafe was a part of the local strip mall, Judith Square, named after the woman who donated her land for the mall. Judith said one of her biggest regrets was that she didn't live closer to a local coffee joint. As Denny walk passed the dumpsters and the backdoor entrances of Judith Square, she considered how different her life would have been without a local coffee joint.

Tam's Grab and Go was a major part of her childhood. Her mom would always take her in first thing in the morning before school. She wasn't allowed coffee, but her mom let her try out any tea she wanted. Denny made a big event of it, she reviewed every tea they had. After what seemed like months of testing, she had determined the only tea that got an A plus.

The orange ginger cookie tea had it all: the sweet, the sour, the spicy. Denny didn't even add honey to it. It became her tea of choice until she reached high school. Then she switched to coffee. When she got her learner's permit, she started going with Nash, and less with her mom.

Her mom didn't mind though, she kept busy. She was always so welcoming to any friends Denny brought over, especially Nash. Nash was pretty much her second daughter.

Creak

Denny snapped out of her day dream. She was pretty sure that the noise came from the dumpster up ahead. Maybe it was a rat or a raccoon.

Stopped in her tracks, she studied the dumpster. It was scuffed along the sides from the appendages of the garbage truck, whatever they were called. But it was that pretty, almost studious blue. The text read 'Jan's Grab and Go.'

That can't be right, she'd been walking for minutes. She looked back, there was no end to the strip mall behind her. She turned back confused. Every dumpster ahead of her was identical, for miles.

This is why her mother told her to never leave through the back door. Denny held her face in her hands not sure what to do.

Creak

The dumpster moved forward a foot. That's not a rat, maybe not even a raccoon. The backdoor jingled and a woman walked out holding bag of trash in front of her face. The trash bag was yellow and leather. Nash was exactly the type to use a trash bag like that.

Creak

"Wait Nash! Don't go near it!" Denny called.

The figure didn't hear her, or maybe she wasn't Nash.

"Whoever that is, stop! The dumpster isn't safe!"

Crack

In an instant the dumpster turned and hurdled through the air at Denny.

"Fuck!"

Denny fell back and hit her head.

"Hey, wait your turn," grumbled a voice behind her.

She turned to face the giraffe man rubbing his forehead.

"You could have given me a concussion. Watch where you're swinging that noggin." The man turned around, back in line for Dan's Grab and Go.

She was maybe tenth in line. Denny never remembered the line this long. She checked her watch. It was four forty, she was late. Odd Nash hadn't called her yet, maybe she was late too.

The sun was reflecting off the windows at the front of the cafe, so she could barely see in. She held her hands over her eyes and squinted. She could see at one of the front tables a pair of yellow leather pumas, something Nash would wear for sure. Her hands felt softer than usual on her forehead, she looked at them. She was wearing yellow leather gloves. Something Nash would wear for sure.

She tapped the giraffe man in front of her with her yellow leather gloved hand.

"What?" he turned around still rubbing his head.

"How long have you been in this line? Why isn't it moving?" Denny asked.

"Lady, I just got here. It's a busy time too."

"Four forty is busy?" Denny glanced down at his yellow leather tie. "Something Nash would wear for sure."

The man turned around and walked in with the rest of the line. Denny wondered what the hold up was. She looked over to the tree in the middle of the sidewalk. An old lady was decorating it with lights. Denny sneered and called out.

"Why are you decorating a tree in March?"

The lady looked over instantly. Denny recognized her face. It was Judith. There were plaques all over Judith Square with her face. Judith sneered back at the question and walked over to the door with the string of lights. She ran the lights through the door handles and tied them tight.

"Judith, wait! I was just kidding," Denny ran up to the door and tugged on the handles. The string lights were tight as hell. She pulled, and pulled and cried out for Nash.

Crack

She turned to face the lit tree as it fell on her.

As she came to, the cup she was filling had overflowed. She looked up to see it was the orange ginger cookie tea dispenser, her favorite. As she lifted the cup, however, she realized it couldn't be hers.

It was yellow leather, like something Nash would order. She turned around to see she was behind the counter of Juan's Grab and Go, but no one was at the counter.

"Nash?" Denny called out politely.

She looked around and saw no familiar faces beside the giraffe man, Judith, and her mom.

"Nash?" she called again, a little louder.

"Natasha?" she begged.

"Denise?" Nash replied.

They were at a front table, the sun glaring through the window. Nash was looking down, with her hair in her face, like when they were kids. She was stirring her coffee into a whirlpool intently.

"Denise. You say the man over there attacked you?" Nash asked.

Denny looked over toward the back of Tanner's Grab and Go. The giraffe man was still there.

"Yes," said Denny. "Well, I tripped on his head. But he did it on purpose. And then the dumpster attacked me. And then..."

Nash snickered in her sarcastic bitchy way.

"What? Let me finish before you judge," said Denny. "And then that Judith lady from all the plaques..."

Nash laughed this time. She tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear and looked up. Her face was yellow leather, just like Nash would have.

"You've already told me this one, Denise."