Michelangelos Shoulder | Page 7

cracks."
"No sir."
No way.
It was four o'clock in the morning. Fluorescent lights cast a bluish glow over wooden booths, plastic covered stools, the grill, and a double doored refrigerator. A waitress leaned against the wall by a kitchen door and lit a cigarette.
The man's voice rose and fell. There was a question of hinging. To hinge or not. Maybe a plain top with a handle? A hinge, but--you didn't want the top just flopping around. "I got me some light brass chain, put about fifteen inches on each side, inside, running to the underside of the top. Little screw in each end. Not going to pull out those hinges."
The other man shook his head.
"I sanded her up good--you know--finished it nice."
The waitress bent forward and tapped her cigarette on an ashtray hidden behind the counter. "You want more coffee, Herbert?"
"Don't believe I will." Herbert turned to his friend. "What do you say?"
"Don't get paid for sitting."
They left and the waitress cleared their places, sweeping a tip into her pocket. She turned toward Will. "More coffee?"
He pushed his mug forward. "Thanks." He could see the box now. It was solid. It had a quiet glow.
"Long night?"
"Yes." It hurt to think about it. He was still disoriented. The diner had appeared in the night like a miracle. "We all got troubles, I guess," he said to break the silence.
"What's her name?"
"Heidi," he said, surprised. The name tore through him.
"Heidi, huh." The waitress took a drag from her cigarette. "You're a good looking guy. She good looking?"
He could have said, not like you, but he didn't have it in him. He nodded.
"It's hard sometimes," she said. "I don't mean to be telling you what to do, but you might feel better if you cleaned up a little, got those pieces of leaf or whatever out of your hair." Will reached up and felt the back of his head.
"I slept in the woods a couple of hours."
"You look it. Your mother'd give you hell."
"Don't have a mother."
"Oh. I am a nosy bitch."
"You're not a bitch," Will said. It was important to get something right. "You're not a bitch. I was at a concert. We were."
"You and Heidi."
"And a bunch of her friends. It was at Cornell. String quartet. I had to wear a tie."
"Guess you got rid of the tie."
"It's in the car--with the rest of the uniform. I'm in the service, the Air Force. Only dress up clothes I had."
"My brother was in the Navy twenty years. Gets a check now, every month."
"I won't make twenty."
"I've never been to a quartet," she said. "Cornell is big bucks."
"The music was great. Haydn. But her friends were laughing at me. What's Heidi doing with an airman? They don't see too many airmen at Cornell. We've been together since we were fifteen--high school."
"Oh, Jesus," the waitress said, "first time's the worst."
"She didn't say anything, but I saw it in her eyes--just like I saw she was going to be mine when I asked her in the hallway to go roller skating." Will shook his head. "I didn't even know how to roller skate. She looked down and then she looked up and her eyes said yes and then she said, yes. And that was that. Five years ago."
The waitress took a last drag and stubbed out her cigarette. "You want something to eat?"
"I don't think so."
"You sure? Piece of toast?"
"Well--toast, maybe." Heidi's friends surrounded him. Their faces were soft and excited, sure of themselves. They wore expensive sweaters and sports jackets. They seemed to belong to a club where everything was taken care of.
The waitress set a plate of toast in front of him. He took one bite and then another. "Tastes good."
"You gotta eat," she said.
"I drank a lot of beer, after. Heidi had to go back to her dorm. I was on this path near where the car was parked, and I just lay down in the path. When I woke up, there was a roaring and a weird light in the trees. It was a power plant or something that fired up in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep, so I found the car. I just wanted to get out of there."
"Get moving," she said. "I know it's easy to say--but it might be it's for the best. People do go in different directions."
"Maybe," Will said. "Maybe she'll marry one of those rich guys and live happily ever after."
The sky outside the window had turned from black to light gray. "Getting light." He left a ten dollar bill on the counter. "Thanks for the company."
"You stop in next time by, you hear?"
"O.K. What's your name?"
"Lee."
"O.K., Lee. I'll do that. I'm Will. Take it easy."
The car started right up, that was one good thing. He drove off, adjusting the rear view mirror, catching