Chapter 1
“I can give you some bliss,” said the man sitting at the diner’s bar. “I can’t fix your life, but I can give you something to look forward to every night.”
It was 7 at night, and Lena thought it weird for the place to be empty. She ignored that for the moment, and looked at the strange-eyed man addressing her. “If you’re going to be a creep, get out before I tell my boss and have you kicked out.”
The man snorted a chuckle and raised his hands while leaning back on the stool. “Never. You judge me too harshly. All I’m offering is a deal.”
“Listen.” Lena took out her notepad. “Just order and leave me alone. I’m tired, and uninterested.”
“A black coffee,” said the man lowering his arms. He wore casual but well-fitting clothes. Nothing about him really drew attention, except for his eyes. “And the answer to a simple question.”
Lena wrote down the order and served the coffee in a cup from a jar nearby. “What is it?”
“Imagine writing down a simple sentence every night, and dreaming about that. If you write you want to dream about flying, you dream of that. Or if you want to visit some other country, write it down, and you dream of it.”
In silence, handing the coffee to the stranger, Lena considered for a few seconds. “OK. What’s the question?”
“Would you like to be able to do that?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“So you accept my deal?”
Annoyed, Lena shook her head and took out her notepad again. “Will you be ordering anything else?”
After sipping the coffee, the man’s face contorted slightly with dislike. “Better coffee. And again, the answer to my simple question.”
“Sir.” The word came out with all the tiredness Lena had been trying to ignore. “The place is about to be flooded with people. Please, make my job easier.”
“It is already flooded with people.” He smiled the way a child does after telling a joke.
All Lena could do was let frustration be plain on her face.
“Think for a bit, Lena. Remember the guy sitting to my left? He was eating breaded chicken and fries. His button shirt is red. Or the old lady all the way in the corner over there.” The man twisted his torso and pointed behind him. “You took her order and she asked you how it was going with the book she recommended to you.”
Lena looked at each place in turn, expression changing from contempt to awed confusion.
“Where is everybody?”
“They’re there.” The man looked around, seeing things Lena couldn’t. “Here. They’re here, don’t worry. Let’s just say I brought us to a little solitary corner of reality.”
It was true. The place had been full, which is why she thought it weird that it was empty all of a sudden, but didn’t realize when it had happened. The thought that she might have been dreaming was quickly drowned by the fact that she was always able to tell if that was the case. Dreams always felt different, and this felt real. Then, she noticed something else. Something that had just happened.
“You called me by my name,” Lena said.
The strange-eyed man nodded calmly. Lena couldn’t tell what color those eyes were.
“How? How do you know…?”
By then, panic had begun to tint her gaze, and the man raised his hands again to stand and step back gracefully.
“I am simply making you an offer, Lena. I think you deserve it. I think you’ve earned it, and it would make me feel better, knowing that I can provide a bit of bliss to someone that has very little of it.”
He walked backwards toward the exit, which helped Lena in calming down. Seeing that, the man put a hand on the handle for the door he was going to use to exit.
“You can give it a try whenever you want,” he said. “Write down something before going to bed, and you’ll see.”
He stepped out, and the door slowly swung shut. The moment it closed itself, the small crowd inside the diner appeared, and the whole place was filled with the dim of voices, cutlery, plates, and glasses. Lena jumped when it happened, but her heart slowed down almost immediately thanks to the familiarity of it all.
“Lena, dear.”
The voice of the old lady at the corner shook her into instinctive action, making Lena walk around the bar and over to her.
“I am so sorry to rush you, dear, but I’m in a bit of a hurry. I was wondering if you could bring me my check?”
Nodding more forcefully than usual, still shaken, Lena was turning around to walk away when she felt the hand of the old lady on hers.
“Oh, and dear, I really hope you don’t think me pushy…” the old lady stuck a hand in her bag and pulled out a book. “I found this in my bag and thought it was my copy, but mine is a hard cover. I must have had two copies without realizing it! Would you like to have this one? Unless you’re not interested, of course.”
The cover and the title of the softcover book made Lena grab at it instinctively to press them against her apron with blushed cheeks, to hide them from view. Then, to not seem rude or judgemental of the old lady that enjoyed those kinds of stories, she said, “Thank you so much! I can’t promise I’ll be quick about it but—”
The old lady waved her hand as if she were shooing a fly. “Take your time, deary, don’t worry. Just remember to treat yourself to some thrills now and then.”
