Running From Yourself

“Onion rings for table eighteen!” Before the dinner rush, money is saved by making the bartenders double as servers, and the cooks double as food runners.  “Thanks Nate!” Jason is the favorite bartender to work with among the back-of-house staff. He makes every effort to grab the food himself, tips out better than the other servers and bartenders, and never engages in the gossip, complaining, and other negativity associated with the service industry. Shifts always run more smoothly with Jason slinging drinks. “Thanks Jason.” Shelly came in almost every day. She was fantastic and everyone loved her. Working upstairs and living across the street helped aid the cool, calm demeanor. Commutes in and out of town can be nasty. And the parking! To call parking in this district a nightmare would be putting it mildly.   “You’re welcome, as always. How’s the start-up? Are you rich yet?” Everyone knew the answer. Business was booming. Her website and accompanying app was a brilliant idea. Investors couldn’t stop throwing money at it.  “Oh, you know. Still working out the kinks.” Ever the perfectionist, Shelly could never allow herself to settle.  Lunch turned to late-lunch. The crowd died down. Heavy drinkers, those void of a regular schedule and tourists just getting to town weary from a long drive or flight are the only ones taking up time and space in the dining room at these times. The night crew in the kitchen had already arrived and begun dinner prep when the two servers were walking in.  Sarah and Jill were college roommates and best friends on a big adventure post-graduation. Moving hundreds of miles away from home, Jill was looking for work as a writer, making ends meet waiting tables. Sarah didn’t have a clue what she wanted out of life, but she knew she wanted Jill. She was training to be a bartender, and thought managing the restaurant might not be awful.  Jason never pried, but he wondered if it was as obvious to the rest of the world as it was to him. Clearly, there was more than friendship here. Was it a fear of coming out? An otherwise legitimate concern, this is Asheville! Who cares? ‘Oh well. Not my place’ he thought to himself. The two disappear to the back to put away their things, don their server aprons and cover their arms with tattoo sleeves that only serve to draw attention to the art underneath. Dinner comes and goes, money is made, and the night winds down to a crowd of after-dinner drinks and late night partying. Jason was busy making drinks for Sarah and Jill and washing glasses. No barback to split those duties tonight. Out of nowhere, Jason started having a . . feeling. He wasn’t sure how to describe it. Sarah actually figured out what was going on even before Jason did. He was slowly lifting off of the ground.  In a moment of fear and confusion, Jason dropped the cocktail glass and muddler to the ground, shattering below his floating feet.  Just as surprising, light slowly shined behind him, illuminating the glass liquor bottles and mirrored wall behind him. By this point, Sarah had started slowly backing away out of fear. Her left heel clipped the foot of a table and she began to fall. Jason helplessly reached for her, but to the surprise of both, he somehow caught her and helped her up. Sarah’s eyes got even wider as she was getting up to her feet with the aid of her coworker-turned-floating-flashlight.  “What . . . is going on?” Now back on her feet, Sarah was the first to break the silence. “I don’t have the slightest clue.”  Almost simultaneously, Jason and Sarah see Jill staring in amazement at the end of the dining room. The surprise of a second witness to the craziness seemed to scare Jason into falling back to Earth with regular gravity, his right foot landing on a chunk of glass and cutting himself pretty severely.  The two servers run to the first aid kit in the kitchen, past cooks vying for their attention. “Can I shut down yet? And is everything alright?” Eddie, the long-time cook, was exhausted from a long day of work. He came in early this morning and was only supposed to work lunch, but the new hire didn’t come in. Everyone thought they had gotten another job and didn’t bother calling as it was only going to be their second day. “Jason cut his foot.” Though it was the least interesting thing to happen, the cut was the most immediate. Eddie joined in with the amateur first aid crew. “You alright, dude?” Eddie’s concern was genuine. “Uh. I don’t know.” “What the heck kind of parlor trick is this?” Jason was still glowing from behind. “I don’t know.” Jason twisted his hips to reveal that the luminescence wasn’t attached to his back, but the source seemed to be at a distance of a few inches. Nobody knew what to say or do, least of all Jason. “Seriously, what’s going on?” Jill’s expression went from astonishment to fear. There was a pause. Nobody knew what to say. Jason threw on his jacket, effectively hiding his glowing back. “I’m going home. If there’s something I missed behind the bar, tell everyone I’m coming in early tomorrow.” Jason started walking briskly toward the front door, noticing a scraping sound. “Your foot!” Jason picked up his foot, looked down, and saw a chunk of glass attached to the bottom of his shoe. The chunk fell off, Jason picked it up and threw it in a nearby trash can, and he was off.   In the short walk to his car, Jason tried to make sense of what had just happened. ‘What was that?’ he thought. ‘How did I float? And Glow?’ ‘How is my foot okay? I’m not in pain at all’  ‘How did I help Sarah get up from twenty feet away?’ Suddenly and for the first time, a voice entered Jason’s head that would change his life forever. Hello Jason. I thought you’d never ask