The silence fell. He seemed to be thinking it over while he gazed out the window. I sat there and watched him.
“So why didn’t you tell your Momma what you’re doing?”
The silence lingered. He never got the chance to answer before Honey Bee made her appearance. With her messy head of hair, that I couldn’t stop looking at, she chatted away like she knew us and we were the best of friends.
“So what brings you here this time?” Asked Honey Bee like this was our weekly visit. “I know your wife left you a while back, but you never told me about your son here, although I know at times you hid the truth from me. Don’t worry, I don’t mind. I have my secrets, too. I know I’m not as old as you, but I have lived long enough to know when not to pry. I hope you’re doing better. Did you fix that old jalopy or did you finally sell the parts?”
“We’ve never been here before. Just passing through.” I politely, awkwardly, answered.
“Oh.” As she looked us up and down.
“Yup, we’re just passing through.” Mishon followed.
“Well, I thought I’ve seen you before.”
“Nope. Our first time.” Mishon answered.
“Really? (Beat) Are you sure?”
“It’s our first time here.” I said.
“Then welcome to the Chat and Chew.”
“Could you tell me something? I asked with curiosity.
“Sure, go right on ahead, honey.”
“Why is this called the “Chat and Chew?’ “
“Now I know you’re not from around here. The “Chat and Chew” is where people chat and chew. Get it? It’s that simple. No hidden meaning, just a meeting place to eat and talk. Where you chew your food and the other person, sometimes myself, chats away happily, like this: How you doin’ this mornin’ Bob? Well, I know I heard about Miss Missy, but I would have never guessed she was going to marry Mr. Rumbolt’s son. He’s a sweet boy, but I didn’t know Miss Missy really liked him. I heard him say that he thought Miss Missy was cute and would make a good wife, but with her education, I’m not sure she is going to fit into his plans.” She gave us a wink as she lowered her voice. “Our manager really likes that we do that.” Without missing a beat, she raised her voice and asked, “Where you boys from?”
Mishon and I looked at each other, but then I noticed Mishon was in his own world. He was staring off into space like he was closely monitoring something outside. I turned and looked to see if there was anything there, but I only saw the parking lot filled with cars.
Honey Bee noticed his gaze, too.
“What do you see out there, honey? Did you lose someone?”
Mishon didn’t answer.
“You have to excuse him. He doesn’t mean to be rude.” I answered. Just as I was about to shake him, he quickly looked at me, looked into my eyes and said:
“Why does being here, mean you fell? Maybe this is right where you’re supposed to be.”
“Oh my dear, did you fall? Are you hurt? I can get ice for you. No wonder you’re off into space. You’re still dazed. I’ve been here chattering away and you’ve been lying there in pain. Now, don’t fret, Honey Bee will take care of things.”
Before I could stop her, she went off to get ice. I could hear her saying to her co-workers: “I don’t know but I think he fell on the gravel out in the parking lot.”
I looked at Mishon; he looked at me. I felt like I was being challenged to a duel.
“You look alright to me. You don’t seem like you’re crazy or anything. Your head is on your shoulders. You don’t look lost. Maybe I don’t get it, but you seem like a normal, healthy guy to me.” Mishon said as a matter-of-fact statement.
I didn’t know what to say to him at that moment, but he continued.
“So I guess that means you’ve been falling since you were a teenager? How would you measure that drop? 1,000 feet? Below sea level?”
I noted the sarcasm in his voice and I could feel heat gathering around my neck; I knew it was traveling into my face.
“Mishon, you’re just a kid. What could you possibly know about life?”
“Obviously more than you.”
“How old are you?” I snapped.
“I’m not as young as you think I am.”
“I swear youth can be so ugly sometimes.”
Mishon shook his head and rolled his eyes before he spoke: “What could have you so down that you consider yourself to be “fallen?’ ”
“Life. (Beat) I’m living it.”
“Then pick yourself up.”
“Is that what your Momma taught you?”
He paused. “You fall down; you get up and brush the dirt off. (Beat) What’s happened that’s so bad in your life? Nothing can be that bad.”
“Killing another human?”
“What?”
“You heard me. Killing another human can’t be that bad?”
It was at this point that both of us finally noticed Honey Bee standing there with packed ice in her hands.
“It sure seems to me that there is some sort of problem here. I’m not going to pry; but, I will tell you two to ease up on one another, clear your heads and be in peace. (Beat) I hope this wasn’t a lover’s quarrel, but looking at the two of you, I doubt it. But get over whatever has your antlers entangled. Life is just too short for this kind of stuff.” She handed the ice pack to Mishon: “You, tend to your bump.”
“Now what are you two boys going to have today?”
“I guess I’m going to take a coke and the turkey club.” I answered.
“Hot chocolate and a large salad.” Mishon said.
“Okay.” Honey Bee said as she wrote down the order while muttering: “The green bird and pig. The pig trough. The injured one wants a steamed brown cow and the old one wants an old fashioned.” Her voice raised, “Now for your turkey club, what kind of bread do you want?”
“The freshest one.”
“Okay.” Honey Bee said while she continued to mutter. “The green bird and pig with mud flaps.”
“Toasted?”
“Sure.”
“The green bird and pig with two hard slaps of mud flaps.”
She looked up from her pad and smiled. “Now get along!”
“Did you hear her? She called you old.” Mishon said to me.
“Yeah, I heard her. So what of it?” I responded snarkily.
“Well, that wasn’t nice of her.”
“I think I was more intrigued by her descriptions of our meals. Why are you ordering a hot chocolate in this heat?”
“I like drinking it. It soothes me. A steamed brown cow might be good for you, too.”
“I doubt it. I’d be pouring sweat, stinking the whole place up.”
Something about the whole thing got under my skin. Maybe it was because of what I admitted to myself out loud; that I had fallen. It was the first time I really heard myself say it, let alone saying it to anyone else. Now I was regretting sharing that. Both of us sat there in silence.
“I heard you fell outside. How bad are you hurt?” Asked a pot-bellied man.
“I didn’t fall. (Beat) He did. Ask him.” Mishon answered pointing at me.
“I’m sorry. I guess I misunderstood Honey Bee.” Then he turned to me and put out his hand: “Hi sir, I’m the manager here. Robert McAdams.” He shook my hand. “Welcome to the Chat and Chew. I understand you fell outside in the lot. How bad are you hurt?”
“Actually, I didn’t fall outside. I’m fine.”
“You sure sir? Because if you’re hurting, I need to know. I’d need to fill out a report. You don’t need to lie about it.”
“No, really I’m fine. I didn’t fall.”
“That’s not what you told me.” Mishon chimed in.
“See, you should listen to you son.” The manager said.
“He’s not my son.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. Really, sir, I’m fine.”
“You sure? I don’t want to get a call later and find out you’re going to sue me.”
“No lawsuit. You don’t have to worry because I really didn’t fall”
“Okay. But if you’re not okay, I better not get a call from your lawyer.” He writes something down on his clipboard, then continues: “I’m going to make a record of this and this young man here, he’ll be my witness that I spoke to you and you declined. And if you change your mind, you better let me know. Nice to have met you.”
“You, too.” I said as we shook hands.
After he walked away, I looked at Mishon.
“Why’d you have to say that?” I asked angrily.
“Because you’re the one who said you fell.”
“You don’t have to be such a smart ass.”
“You may have fallen a long time ago, but I don’t think you’re still there.” Mishon responded.
“I wish I never mentioned it to you.”
“Is that anything like your other wish?”
“You know I did like you, but I think I just changed my mind.”
“It doesn’t matter if you like me or not. Why were you on that road the day I found you? Were you trying to kill yourself?” Mishon asked.
(laughs) “Hell no! What makes you think that?”
“You keep talking about falling, so…”
“So?”
“So, it seems like something a fallen person would do.” Mishon explained.
“No, I wasn’t going to kill myself. I was actually headed back to my vehicle. Remember?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Oh yeah? Do you have a bug up your ass? Why were you there?” I asked angrily.
“Oh, I was just driving around.”
“Just driving around. (Beat) I don’t believe that. The guys at the station said you weren’t where you were supposed to be. (Beat) Where were you supposed to be?”
“I was right where I needed to be.” Mishon responded.
“Which was?”
“Helping you.”
“Helping me?” I questioned.
“Helping you find your way back.”
“To what?”
“Life.”
Damn Mishon.
It felt like I had to be somewhere in a hurry, so I was rushing Mishon to get out of the place after we finished our food. I wanted to get back on the road, but we needed the check. He gave me a sideways glance. That irritated me.
“What’s up with you?” I asked him.
Instead of answering, he shook his head at me. That pushed my buttons further.
“You might as well say it. Because right now, Mishon, you’re annoying the hell out of me.”
“Why are we in a rush?” MIshon asked with annoyance.
“I want to get out of here.”
“Do you need to be somewhere specific?”
“Yeah.”
“Someplace you need to be in a hurry, really?”
“Yup.”
“Where?”
“Well, Mishon, that’s really none of your damn business.”
That shut him up. I wasn’t about to be cornered by him any further.
That’s when Honey Bee came over to tell us: “I just want you boys to know that our manager said your meal’s on us.” She then lowered her voice: “You know, because of the fall you don’t want to report.” She then, quite purposefully, winked at me.
That infuriated me. I didn’t like the implications. I wasn’t a liar, hated it when people thought I was, and now to get something for free that I didn’t deserve—because of Mishon—I wanted him gone.
“Mishon, I think this is where we should part and go our separate ways.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Okay. Have it your way. I think it’s a mistake, but you know, you have to do what you have to do.” Mishon replied with ease and with no annoyance in his tone.
I looked at him and shook my head. “What the hell does that mean?” I asked him, but before he could reply, I simply stated: “Never mind.”
He followed me out to the parking lot and stood by the restaurant, watching me go to my truck. I looked over at him and shook my head. I said under my breath: “Lost kid.”
I got into my cab and started the engine. I was looking at him in the rearview mirror when I pulled out of the parking spot. Before I was able to peel out, he called out and waved to me. He ran over to the passenger’s side window and asked me something I hadn’t anticipated:
“Where do you get your money from?”
“What?” I said, startled. As my foot pressed on the gas pedal, my body fell back on the cab door, and it gave way, so I fell right out of my truck onto that damn gravel lot.
“Goddamn it!” I said under my breath while I laid there on the lot. I could feel shooting pain through my body, although at that precise moment, I couldn’t pinpoint where.
Then Mishon was looking down at me. I could see his lips moving, like he was telling me something, but I couldn’t hear him. All I could say was: “Mishon, I’m hurt bad. Real bad.”