The Long Lonely Night - an original short story by Ken Davis

Hello Steemians,
I wrote this short story a while ago and wanted to post it here for your enjoyment. There are some curse words in the story; I hope you aren't offended.

The Long Lonely Night

The bleu cheese dressing coated the lettuce and tomatoes and croutons and olives like lava over Pompeii. There was so much she could barely taste the veggies but that's how she liked it. It didn't matter to her that she weighed more than she should or even that the dressing some times dribbled out the sides of her mouth; she was participating in her favorite activity: eating.

"Bring me more chicken wings,” She barked at the waitress. "Goddamn service in this place sucks." She complained while stuffing another mouthful of dressing and lettuce. Dressing mixed with spittle drooled from her lips as she chewed.

Watching her eat was one of the most disgusting things Hanna could imagine. “How in the hell did I end up like this?” Hanna thought to herself as she patiently waited for her to finish.

"Where should we go to next?" Hanna asked trying to keep the conversation going.
"Who the fuck cares? Away from all of these assholes I hope." She replied angry and indignant as always.
"I've always wanted to go to New York City. There is so much to do there. We could see a show. Not on Broadway, those are too expensive but an ‘off-Broadway’ or even an 'off-off-Broadway' show. What do you think?"
"I think there are probably more assholes in New York than there are here." She replied spitting saliva and dressing out of her mouth as she spoke.

Hanna looked down and thought of somewhere else they could go to "get away from all these assholes."

The waitress arrived with a plateful of hot chicken wings. They steamed from heat having just got out of the fryer. The hot sauce was so strong it stung Hanna's eyes even from across the table. The waitress placed the plate down next to her and asked if she needed anything else.

"Bring me some more bleu cheese dressing and hurry up! I am friggin starving to death here." She shouted at the waitress. Hanna knew this would be bad night. She was angry all the time anyway but the hot sauce would put a fire in her belly that wouldn't go out for days. She wouldn't sleep well and would keep Hanna up all night with her complaining. Hanna tried to keep her from eating so much. She tried to get her to eat healthier food as well but the reply was always the same. "I ain't no goddamn rabbit. I ain't gonna starve myself neither. You just shut your hole and let me eat." Hanna knew she would get the same response this time and so said nothing.

Hanna took her wrap and nibbled on it but watching her eat made her lose her appetite. She wanted to leave but couldn't figure out how. She relied on her for everything but she was paying such a steep price.

"How much should I tip?" She asked not really wanting an answer. It didn't matter what Hanna thought anyway because she would always say it was too much and tip much less than the 15% the minimum. Hanna was always afraid they would spit in their food if they ever returned to any of the restaurants. So I guess it was a good thing they kept on the move. Although sometimes, Hanna felt the restaurants had put out some kind of all-points-bulletin because other restaurants seemed afraid or even pissed off when they walked in. Most often, Hanna would just eat french-fries because she felt like the deep fryer would kill everything and she wouldn't get sick. Once they went into a pizza joint and ordered a chicken pizza. Hanna wanted sausage but as usual she ordered for both of them and could care less what Hanna wanted. The cooks had their revenge that day and all she could eat for a week was buttered toast.

Hanna put her wrap down and pulled out a piece of gum. "You gonna eat that?" She asked. Not waiting for a reply she grabbed the wrapped, dipped it in bleu cheese dressing and shoved it in her mouth.

Her cell phone rang and she picked it up, smearing dressing and hot sauce on it. After seeing who it was, she handed Hanna the phone and barked, "Answer it and tell him I'm taking a shit." Hanna almost vomited but took the phone anyway.

"Hello." pause. "Um, no she's not available. Do you want me to just tell her you called? Ok, I will. Gotta go now. Take care." Hanna put down the phone. Of the hundred or so people on her cell phone list, her ex-husband was the last one Hanna wanted to talk to.

"Well, what the hell did he want?" The words came out of her mouth like a bullet from a gun.
"I dunno. He just said to tell you he called."
"Asshole." I still don't know what the hell made me marry that stupid son-of-a-bitch." She shoved another chicken wing in her mouth as she spoke. "I'll send the jerk-off an email. I hate talking to him."

Hanna looked at the flower arrangement in the vase on their diner table. Weird flowers for a place like this she thought. They were dingy from cigarette smoke, which was even more bizarre because the state banned smoking in restaurants 20 years ago. A story about flooding in Texas came on the television. The waitress tuned all six TVs in the place to the same channel and turned them up. Rescue crews were pulling a family from a flooded SUV. The mom did not want to come out or even let the kids out but they insisted and pulled them all to safety. They waived their hands while smiling at the camera as if to say, "look at me! I'm on TV!" When it was over, the tall waitress turned down the volume and went back to work.

"Stupid. People are just stupid. I can't believe that woman would put her children in jeopardy like that! See what I mean about these assholes?" She blurted out as she finished up her last chicken wing. Then she belched as loud as she could. Hanna remembered a time when they were trapped in their car. She drove into a ditch after drinking gallons of margaritas and Coronas. She said the lime would counter act the alcohol and insisted on driving. They smashed into a large oak tree, as if there are any other kind, and her foot was smashed all to hell. The paramedics rushed her to the hospital where the docs cut off what was left of the foot. Since then, she's gained weight almost every day.

She was now entering her post meal comatose. With all of her senses diminished, Hanna knew this was the best time for her to make a break. She got up from the table and noticed that everyone was looking at her. With strength she didn't know she had, she held her head up high and made her way to the door. Hanna’s hand, acting on it’s own, pushed open the door. Hanna looked back at her, head slumped over, drool dribbling down her chin. Hanna turned, walked out the door, hailed a cab, and left forever.

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Thank you for reading this; please let me know what you think and if you have original art work, literature, paintings, drawing, music, etc, please let me know that too. I would love to check it out.

Enjoy your day!