Gotham Nights: The Waitress

[Gotham Nights]

The Corner Cafe was exactly that. A small cafe located on a street corner in downtown Gotham not far from the financial district. In the morning nameless assistants were grabbing the coffee and breakfast to go special, during lunch power suits filled the cafe along with a few construction and city workers. In the early evening a small army of after hour workers would stop in to grab a quick meal before heading back to their offices to continue their quest for that promotion or to finish their project before the early morning deadline.

By eight o'clock most other establishments were closed up on the corner. Downtown became a bit of a ghost town of concrete, glass and steel. The bright neon coffee cup sign flickering on the corner shown out like a beacon in the darkness.

Nora took a moment for herself by the coffee pots and organized her tips from her apron. Not a great night, but an average night for tips. She pushed a lock of fading red hair behind an ear and looked around at her customers. Table five was finishing up, three could probably use a refill on their coffee soon and the lovebirds at the back probably hoped she would stay away.

She had another hour before her shift ended and the graveyard crew came in. She neatly folded the bills and put them in the pocket of her apron and pulled out her cell phone, speed dialed her home and waited for someone to answer.

Hello?

"Hey Sis, how are things going tonight?"

Going well, we just finished up bath time and as soon as the boys finish brushing their teeth I'll put them down for the night.

"I really appreciate you and Dan doing this for me Niki."

I've said it before, I'd rather come over here and help you out than you trusting some stranger to care for them when you work.

"It won't be for long, the lawyer said that the child support should start coming through in another month. Then I can just work the midday shift instead of pulling a double. And then you and Dan can go back to your newly wed lives."

Nora?

"Yeah?"

You don't have to explain. The boys are fine, I'm fine and we all love you. You do what you have to do. Dan and I are here to help you and we have a blast with the kids. Now do you want to say goodnight to these two knuckleheads? or what?

"Yeah, put them on."

The sounds of two high pitched voices over the cell phone caused table three to turn around. Nora smiled at them then turned away and finished up her goodnight instructions and message of love to her two sons.

"Now give the phone back to Aunt Niki."

Nora?

"Thanks again Niki, kiss them for me will ya? and I'll call again when I'm headed home."

You be safe coming home.

"I always am."

[Matt Hagen]

Matt Hagen bore the look of a man who, if he wasn't quite unglued, was definitely peeling at the edges. Dark circles crowded under his eyes, souvenirs from more sleepless nights than he cared to admit, and the skin of his bald head was pale and waxy with a faint sheen of sweat, despite the damp chill that hung in the air underneath the hazy night sky. He trudged forward with his hands in the pockets of his overlarge trench coat, a formless gray thing more meant to conceal than to keep warm. He didn't have a destination in mind so much as a goal: a mug of strong coffee and a plate of greasy food, something to make him feel human again. His sleep cycle was all shot to hell anyway, so he figured he might as well make a proper breakfast of it.

When he reached the cafe, he paused at the door to check his reflection in the glass. He'd been doing that a lot lately - stopping to make sure he still looked like him. His face was drooping, but not actually melting. He'd take that as a good sign.

Hagen shuffled in under the jangling bells, passed by a chalkboard sign that read SEAT YOURSELF, and slid into a chair by a tiny table crammed in the corner right against the cafe's shopfront window. He picked up a grease-stained menu and read the front cover three times before realizing there wasn't anything to order there; then he opened the front flap and began skimming the list of coronary-clogging breakfast platters.

A low, rumbling gurgle issued from his stomach. Hagen clapped a hand to his belly with a haunted look in his eyes.

[Gotham Nights]

Nora hung up the phone and made note of where the latest customer sat. Picking up a pot of coffee made her way to table three to check on them and top off their cups.

After chit chatting with them a moment she made her way to the corner table. The man sagged in his chair, a look of world weariness Nora felt herself but managed to conceal. Only the charitable at heart tipped a weary waitress and there was far too few of them in Gotham to make a profitable habit of it. Chipper, cheery, quick with a quip got you the friendly tips. So Nora plastered a smile on her face and greeted the man who look like death warmed over.

"Rough night hon? What can I get you?" Nora set the coffee pot down and pulled out her ticket pad and made ready to get the guy a plate of something hopefully to brighten his mood.

[Matt Hagen]

The waitress's voice startled Hagen out of his thoughts. Holy hell, he was getting jumpy. But her smile was pleasant, and she cut just the right sympathetic tone, and she was cute, too. A little careworn, maybe, but he was one to talk.

"You have no idea," he replied with a laugh that hopefully wasn't too forced. His eyes fell on the pot she'd set on the edge of the table. "You can start with some of that, long as it's not decaf. And, uh..."

He glanced down to the breakfast menu, but all the items just seemed to run together. "I just want the biggest, greasiest breakfast plate you've got. Something with eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, the works."

[Gotham Nights]

Nora grabbed a clean white ceramic mug from an adjacent table and poured the steaming black liquid into the cup with a smile, "I don't know about you, but decaf is blasphemy."

Setting the coffee pot down again she pulled a pen out from behind her ear and scribbled something down on the ticket pad, "I got just the thing for you dear. It's not on the menu, but regulars like to call it the 'Gawd Awful;' a pile of hashbrowns, covered in bacon & sausage, 3 eggs made to your liking, covered in chili, onions and cheese."

She shifted her weight a bit and placed one hand on her hip, "Some like to swap out the hasbrowns with biscuits and most have the eggs scrambled. And it comes on a platter as the plates aren't big enough. And if that sounds a little too awful," she leaned in covert style, "I'll have Lenny the cook just make you up a double portion of our breakfast plate."

[Matt Hagen]

As she spoke, Hagen's face melted into an image of rhapsody. Well, not literally. He wasn't that badly off yet.

"Oh, that sounds just awful enough," he said. "I'll take the eggs scrambled, and I want the hashbrowns, but give me biscuits on the side. I really need something that'll stick to my ribs."

Hagen patted his already-ample rib padding, and his stomach complained again. He dearly hoped it was just hunger. That was a human thing to feel, perfectly natural. More natural than ordering a heart attack of a breakfast platter at this time of night, anyway.

He laughed nervously as he reached for his cup of coffee, steaming hot and midnight black. "Ever have one of those days you just wanted to start over?"

[Gotham Nights]

"Days? Brother, if it wasn't for my kids I'd want to start my life over." Nora gave the gentleman a wink and a nod and left to put in his order. The group at table five grabbed their gear and threw on their coats and gave a shout to Nora as they filed out the door.

"Have a good night!" she chirped back at them as the bells over the door jingled with their exit. Quickly she slid the coffee decanter back into it slot on the warming pads, slapped the ticket up on shiny chrome Carlisle order wheel and spun it around to the kitchen. "Gimmie a train wreck of somethin' awful with two rocks on the side Len."

"You got it." a deep voice called back amid the sounds of metal and ceramic colliding in a tub of water.

She then grabbed a grey tub from the corner and made her way silently past the lovebirds to clean up table five. Management didn't feel the profits justified hiring a little extra help to clean the tables up. Nora didn't mind on slow nights like tonight.

As she cleared away the dishes she spotted the bills neatly folded and tucked under a plate. It was a nice tip, too nice in fact. Regulars, God bless them. They knew a little too much about Nora's life, been there for the nightly calls home, the arguments with the lawyers and even the unexpected visits from her ex while on the job.

It was a little humiliating to have people know so much about you and you so little of them. But stubborn pride didn't keep the heat and lights on. Nora chose to look at it as taking pride in her work. She kept their orders straight, food hot, cups filled and listened when they needed to talk, laughed when they laughed and every once in a while was reminded of how it felt to be young. She stole a quick glance at the two lovebirds talking and looking into each others eyes.

The bell above the doorway jingled and a small group of young wanna be thugs strolled in and overtook one of the booths. "Hey yo bitch! We need some service up in here."

The smile on her face slid to the floor.

What was that she was just thinking about blessing regulars? Her eye's narrowed. Why haven't they been victims of a drive by yet?