No Pancakes

My mother bought a pancake house. The kind that serves thin brown coffee out of drip pots. The decaf drip pot has an orange handle, you so you know it’s decaf. My brother and I share a room in the back of the restaurant so that we can wake early and get to work. We don’t have our own bathroom – we have to use the customer bathrooms. Sometimes this is embarrassing. But mostly I don’t care.

The other day, a group of people I went to high school with came in to the restaurant. I tried to sneak by them on my way out of the bathroom, but my brother wanted me go see what they were wearing. I wanted to say, hi, anyway. I heard one of their husbands died recently, from a rock falling on his head right out of the sky.

I spent a long time trying to make my hair look good in the bathroom, then went over to give my condolances. They were not receptive to me. Basically, they just ignored me. I told my brother they iced me. I don’t know why they iced me. Maybe they were too sad to catch up. As I rounded the corner, I saw my ex. It was a day of long-time-no-sees. She was much nicer than the high school people. Her friend saw me and said, oh she should be your girlfriend. And I said, no that’s in the past. The ex and I hugged and she kissed me. I could tell she had a cold but I didn’t get mad. I just wiped her saliva off my face and smiled at her.

That day, I decided I would no longer work at the pancake house. Too much drama. I got on my bike and rode away without telling my mom. Thank god I don’t work there anymore.

Travel Plans

I bought a small two-seater airplane, an air travel sports car of sorts. I don’t know how to fly it, but there are times when such things are irrelevant. What I know is that the trickiest part is landing, and the second trickiest is taking off. Once in the air, smooth sailing. We bought it together, actually, Abby and I.

Behind the two cockpit seats is a kitchenette with a built-in table, like in a trailer. We have had guests here for coffee and dinner. I am usually afraid to go anywhere in it because of the fact that I don’t know how to fly a plane. But Abby always says, you can do it don’t be scared. When I start thinking about the future – what will happen in the air? how does this lever work? where is the runway? – I start to panic. But if I close my eyes and trust Abby’s voice, we end up in one piece on the ground at a new destination.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to learn. Or that I am reckless (though maybe a little impulsive). It’s that sometimes closing my eyes and listening gets the job done better.