60 Years Later by John David California

Author:John David California
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FA
Publisher: Windupbird Publishing
Published: 2009-05-25T00:00:00+00:00

15

The Russian deli isn’t here anymore. I had guessed it wouldn’t be, but I didn’t know. Instead we go to the coffee shop that is now where the deli used to be. Back then I went once a week, always on Thursdays. That’s when they served the red beet soup. I remember the woman behind the counter; her name was Bertha. Every time I walked in she polished the marble counter with an old washcloth, no matter what time I came in. Even as I walked past in the evenings she was there, leaning forward, grinding the marble down with her that piece of cloth. I don’t know what happened to the place, or to Bertha. Perhaps she finally polished her way through the hard Italian rock, threw her arms up in a victory gesture, and walked straight out and never looked back.

The coffee shop now is just another coffee shop and we take our cups and sit by a table near the door.

Charlie, I say, but I don’t continue.

My coffee is too hot to drink, even to hold, and I let it stand on the table in front of me.

Charlie, I start again, but still I say nothing more.

Charlie looks at me from across the table. Her eyes are raven-like and sharp and I look away. Two tables from us sits a couple and their baby. The man is biting down on a huge sandwich while the woman is holding the baby. She’s holding it with its back to her and she is trying to get it to stand on her knees. The baby is trying and trying and the mother gives it balance by holding onto it’s tiny hands, but the baby’s legs are just too weak and keep collapsing, over and over.

I try my coffee again but it’s still too hot and I burn my upper lip. The silence is a screen between us. Behind the couple I see a pretty girl sitting next to a guy in a blue shirt. I can’t see his face because he has his back to me, but the girl is very pretty with long, wavy hair. The baby keeps trying to stand without making it and as the baby’s leg kicks out it hit the table and a pair of sunglasses falls to the floor. I see them laying between the two tables. They look so very sad where they are, so vulnerable in the wide open space, and finally I do think of something to say.

Did you ever finish the list I gave you that summer?

I look at her, then at the sunglasses on the floor, then at the struggling baby, then back at Charlie. She has already finished her coffee even though hers was as warm as mine. She doesn’t answer my question and I think for a moment that she hasn’t heard me.

You remember, the paper? I say.

Without answering me she pushes a single tear from the corner of her eye. It glides all the way down her cheek and comes to a halt under her chin.

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