There Will Be Blood

June had been on her feet since four.

The first two hours of her shift were a slow trickle of truck drivers, travelers and insomniacs; all of them wanting coffee.

Black of course.

And eggs, typically either over-easy or scrambled.

The predictable nature of it all was comforting. The more chattier hours came later in the day, with the commuter crowd and the few retirees who treated Buddy's like it was their second dining room.

Today, June was pulling a double. Carla had called in sick and Denise had to go to her daughter's recital which was out of town, and Hank, who was currently in the kitchen, wouldn’t work the floor for the second coming of Christ Himself.

So here she was, working from four in the morning to eight at night. She needed the tips anyways.

The television above the bar was muted. The captions of the news program ran a few words behind the anchor's mouth.

June was wiping down a counter when the door chimed once again.

She took a quick sip of her ice water and turned with her notepad already in hand, eyeing the customer who walked in.

It was an older man, likely sixty-something. He had a distinct and short gray beard that clearly needed some trimming. His eyes locked onto an empty stool by the counter before they even found her. He wore a dark jacket that looked a little heavier than the morning called for, and a hat she'd last seen inside old movies.

He walked over with measured steps and then sat down at the counter. He let out a small exhale on the way down.

“Morning,” June greeted.

“Good morning,” he answered softly as he took his hat off and let it sit on the counter. His hair was thick and full, mostly gray with a sprinkle of black mixed in there.

“Some coffee to get you started?”

“Please.” He nodded as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Cream and sugar?” June asked, as she walked to the coffee pot.

“Just black, thanks.”

She poured it and gently slid it across the counter. He took the cup in both hands, as if he was warming his hands with it.

As she noticed that, she could see his hands were shaking.

It was very slight. A faint quiver around the mug, barely moving the coffee. He looked up and caught her watching her. She let her eyes shift to the ticket pad. When she looked back he'd laid his hands flat on the counter, palms down.

“Do you need a menu?”

“No, ma'am. I know what I'd like.” He answered softly.

“Alrighty,” She exhaled softly. "What would you like?"

“Two eggs, over easy. Bacon, if you have it. Wheat toast.”

“We have Bacon.” She chuckled, "I think half the folks in here would leave if we didn't."

“Thank you.”

“Anything else right now besides the coffee?”

He paused for a moment then nodded as he answered, “Water'd be fine. Thank you.”

"Coming right up." She wrote the ticket and clipped it to the wheel. Hank's arm reached up through the pass and spun it without a word. She filled a glass from the tap and dropped a few ice cubes in it and set it beside the coffee. He nodded at her. She smiled for a moment before she moved down the counter.

June made her rounds, topping off Earl in the third booth. Took an empty plate from the two-top by the window.

"Excuse me dear," the woman in the corner waved her down, "Is that pie case going to be opening soon? I would like a slice of that apple pie you have in there."

"Yes ma'am, the pie case will be open by eight o'clock. I promise I'll bring you a slice as soon as I can." She answered with a smile.

When she came back around, she noticed the man had not touched the coffee or the water.

Not terribly unusual, in all honesty.

She could spot a bit of tiredness around his eyes, now that she could get a better look at him.

“Long night?” she asked on her approach back.

He turned his head toward her slowly.

“Something like that.” He shifted in his seat and pulled his hands back.

“I know the look. I’m pulling a double right now. Sometimes I actually dream about this place. I'll be asleep but still pouring coffee.”

He gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. “Working in your sleep, not sure I'd want to subject my worst enemy to such a thing.”

“It's a hell of a thing, that's for sure. Speaking of work, what do you do if you don’t mind me asking?” She asked with a questioning lilt.

He lifted the cup with a soft chuckle and drank. Setting it down, he answered. “I am in security consulting.”

“Oh, well, that sounds serious.”

“Well, it pays the bills.”

“I bet, especially with how things are these days.”

He nodded solemnly in response.

“And how long have you been doing this security consulting?” She asked,

“Since I retired. Going on fifteen years now.”

“Oh?” She voiced, “What did you retire from?”

He took a pause before his response. She could see the gears turning in his head as he weighed his words.

“The service.” He answered simply.

“Oh.” She voiced in a higher register, then nodded. “Well... thank you for your service.”

He just nodded softly and looked away. “You're most welcome.” He was a little shy in that response.

She couldn't help but find it somewhat cute. “My dad was Army,” she added.

He looked at her again. “Is that right?”

“Yeah. I mean, after that he spent thirty-one years at the post office...” She offered a weak smile and shrugged. “But before the post office, yes, he was in the Army.”

“Did he enjoy his time in the service? If you don't mind my asking.” At his words, she just chuckled, he was already stealing her moves.

“He... he was an infantryman. He fought on the frontlines.”

His expression shifted slightly, becoming more somber. “That’s not easy. Whereabouts did he serve?”

“Vietnam.”

He nodded once, then he looked down at his coffee. “That was certainly not easy. Very hard war.”

“Yeah. He didn't really talk about it much.”

The bell dinged from the serving window. June held up a finger and went to get the plate. She set it down in front of him with silverware rolled in a napkin. “Two eggs, over easy. Bacon. Wheat toast. How'd we do?” She put her right hand on her side as she looked at him.

He just smiled at her question. “Full marks. Thank you ma’am.” She smiled and let him eat while she made her rounds once again. Refilled Earl. Brought the woman in the corner her slice of apple pie six minutes before the case was supposed to be open. When she came back around, the man had eaten through half his plate.

She wasn't quite sure what it was, but she felt the need to talk to him again. “Hey. Can I ask you something?”

He chewed and swallowed and took a sip of water before he answered her, “Yes ma'am.”

“Where'd you serve? You said the service. Didn't say where.”

“Oh, well… around.”

“Around? Well... around is a pretty big country, huh?” She said with a distinct sarcastic lilt. He just chuckled in response.

“Forgive my vagueness, but it is true. I was all over. Never in one place for too long.”

“All over.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Huh. Sounds like my dad. He was 'all over' Vietnam. Not just in one place. But I always figured somebody somewhere knew exactly where you'd been, though, right?”

“That's... honestly not too far from the truth.”

“You weren't in Vietnam, though, right?”

“No, ma'am. That was... well before my time in the service. I came in after all that.”

“So where did you serve?”

“Many different places.”

“There's that vagueness again...” She smiled and shrugged, “Just sounds like you're trying not to tell me. I’d rather you just say you don’t or you can't, makes it more mysterious that way.”

“Well, it’s not for any bad reason, I can promise you that.”

“Okay then. I suppose the whole 'enigma factor' suits you, with your heavy coat and old-timey hat.”

He smiled at her assessment. “Well, I would say it's more…” He thought to himself for a moment, June tilted her head, waiting for his explanation. He then spoke. “It really helps when you put away the things that you're done with. When you put them in their place, they tend to stop following you around after a while.”

She nodded softly, jutting her lower lip at his words, “Okay. Sounds like old person talk for ‘repressing your feelings.’”

“Well, I would like to think it has helped, even if just a little bit. I don’t have many people I can talk to about these sorts of things.”

June pushed off the counter again, “Then I hope that’s working for you, but it sounds awfully lonely if you don't let someone in eventually.”

She smiled as she walked away. He just shrugged as if he wasn’t sure what else to say.

He went back to his eggs. She made another pass of the room and when she came back she refilled his coffee without even asking, she was mostly happy he finally decided to start drinking it.