Story Telling I couldn’t understand what he was trying to tell me…ugh think! The puzzle was just so wrong. The shiny gloss on the flat surface reflected my face as I peered intensely at the cardboard pieces. Time was running out fast, why can’t I understand? None of this makes sense…then reality flashed. “Oh my god I have to go…”
“Orders up!” Lunch time was especially busy today. Every table in the café was packed with people, everywhere I went all I heard is “uh miss! Where’s my water?”, or “more napkins over here”, it was frantic. Kyle came in and sat at table 14, managing to squeeze in just in time after the previous customer pulled out from the wrap-around bench. I try to nonchalantly glance over while taking a new order, only to find his face buried in the menu, odd, usually he’s full of alacrity. Usually I would find a goofy grin that would make me giggle, making the one ordering confused, many apologies were needed when Kyle decided to drop in, but today was different.
He would not look up, he just stared there blankly at the empty plate before him. He looked like a ghost, well paler than I’ve ever seen, if that’s even possible. I knew something was wrong, I couldn’t wait till my shift was over so I could scoop up on all the dirt, oh no Leanna, no Melody probably dumped him, poor Kyle. He really is a good guy, I mean I would know, we have been friends since 3rd grade and all, but hey what would I know right? However girls seem to just go for the presents, the constant little expensive favors. It’s absurd, Kyle is just worth so much more than that. Oh well I’ll go talk to him after my shift.
He stayed like that the whole time, ugh go by faster time! The seconds were going by like decades, it was so frustrating. Yet Kyle stayed in the booth the whole time, it’s like he was waiting for me, then why was he avoiding me? Finally my last order was served, and I quickly rushed to the back room to clock out, and with the same pace hurried out. I immediately went to the corner of the room where Kyle’s table was at, only to find Sam wiping down the table. I don’t get it, why wait the whole time for me only to leave when my shifts over? I frantically scanned the room for the red sweatshirt that I had given to him last year, that he is always wearing, then I caught a glimpse of red moving quickly towards the door, “Kyle!” I shouted.
I rushed out the doors to find him standing by the telephone pole over by Duncan’s Grocery store. He looked in both directions and nodded his head up, gesturing for me to come over. My response was quick and sprinted across the road. “Hey Kyle, what’s u…” He hastily put his chapped hand over my mouth, and whispered “we can’t talk here, he’s listening”,
“Who’s listeni…”
“shhhh, he’s indignant”, he nippily cut me off again, “just meet me at the library in a half an hour”
I didn’t dare say anything, avoiding his rough hand on my mouth again, but rather just nodded my head indicating that I understood. I made my way over to the brown brick building and sat down at our usual table. I pondered questions regarding what happened today, Kyle has never been this eccentric before, what did he mean “he’s listening”? Why all the secrecy? Where was he anyway? I checked my watch to confirm that the time was correct to his instructions.
“Durpadeeing!” I looked down at my phone and saw that I got a text from Kyle; go into the thriller section and find The Boy Who Cried Wolf. I thought c’mon Kyle, this is childish, but whatever I’ll do it. I had to go to the kid’s section upstairs, only to find no one present. It was query, the librarian wasn’t even sitting at the information desk. I kept going though, A…B..B. O… B.W. finally, I found the sticker labeled Boy-Wolf. I grabbed the thick book and began to flip through the pages and realized this is a book, a long, book. Not a little fable I remember reading in the past. That’s when I realized it that every page I turned, the top subtitle of the page read The Boy