Chatty Town

Chapter Three : Odina's Diner

As I get closer to the sign- and the building it belongs to- I hear laughter. Deep joyous laughter. I hear bright music and plates clinking down on tables, pots and pans pounding on metal counters, and I smell... I smell eggs, greasy bacon, buttered toast and something sweet. The door swings out almost hitting me but I stop in my tracks.

It's a kid, who couldn't be any older than ten years.

He walks out that door; alone. He sees me instantly and his brow furrows while working his eyes from my head to my bare feet, then he relaxes his face and walks past me like I wasn't even there.

A woman's voice from inside the diner calls out, "Harkin, don't leave the door open, you'll let in all the flies!" The kid waves them off and I find myself walking in through the door before I close it behind me.

I'm here.

It's a diner, all right. It's got the style and color palette of a retro American diner, a jukebox sitting in the middle of the wall to my left and booths. Red leather booths thickly striped with white, all along the sides of the walls. And white square tables with red leather chairs fill the space in the middle of the diner. And so many people. I glance around but I don't have much time to count them before the waitress behind the counter shouts over the lively noises of the crowd "Well are you going to come and order something or just stand there?" I catch her eyes and before I can understand, I'm walking over to her and sitting down at the counter. "Olsen sent me."

"Olsen?" Her eyebrows squeeze together and she looks me over, just like that boy, Harkin did.

"Did you just wake up now?"

My eyes widened, "You know?"

She's old but not too old. Maybe in her late 30's. "Well, it's not hard to figure, you still have that damn hospital bracelet on- and Olsen sent you to me. He only sends the new ones my way." I glance down at the plastic band with my name on it and hide my wrist under the counter trying to rip it off.

"Well don't do that! It's better you keep it on so we can identify you as one of the comatose patients." She shakes her head and wipes the counter just in front of me. "Makes it a whole lot easier on everybody."

"Comato- you mean I was in a coma?"

The woman tilts her head side to side in disappointment and starts wiping down the counter faster and leans towards me. She lowers her voice so only we can hear, "Don't go around saying stupid shit like that. That's a sure way to get you killed." She pulls away and drops the towel on the counter and looks around the diner as she pretends to stretch her arms. "Just stay quiet, keep your head down and if you can't be smart then keep your damn mouth shut- then it'll take them a while to figure it out."

"But-" I bring my wrist back up from under the counter and look at the band. "It says I was admitted on December 22, 2058. So what day is it now?"

Her voice lowers "Oh, hun." she shakes her head. "You're asking the wrong question right there. What you really should be asking is 'what year is it?' "

I look at her with my eyebrows pushed together. I know it's not 2058 still since everyone's wearing sweaters and there's no snow- she interrupts my thoughts.

"2058, huh? God damn that was just before everything–"

She puts her elbows on the counter and leans towards me slightly. With every emphasis she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Hun, there's a rule to how we're supposed to act with comatose patients. I'm supposed to let you figure everything out yourself. Some kind of test to see how well you adjust. Even telling you this could get me in trouble. Now, I can't go around telling you everything you need to know in one sitting. So how 'bout you order something, and get on your merry little way and explore the town for yourself, mkay?" The emphasis she puts on certain words gives me the same feeling talking to Olsen after leaving the dressing room gave me. It's off-putting.