Jack and Mike

     The smell of fried food hit Jack like a hammer in the head as he stepped into the restaurant. He has been to restaurants similar to this one, but never one that hit you as you walk in.

     “Hi, how many?” a short blonde hostess said clenching her teeth and forcing a smile.

     “Ahh… two,” Jack said pulling his cell phone from his pocket and flipping it open, “…maybe.”

     “Smoking or non-smoking?” she asked again with that same forced smile.

     Jack noticed the name on the badge she wore near her right shoulder: Clara. Below it read, “Service with a smile!”

     “Non-smoking, please,” he said.

     Clara grabbed two menus and with a shake of her head, ushered Jack to the back of the restaurant, through the thick clouds of cigarette smoke hovering like death over its victims. Jack held his breath and squint his eyes as he walked around the tables following Clara who walked rather quickly for being so short.

     “A server will be with you shortly,” she said as she turned her back and darted off to the front of the restaurant.

     Clara seated Jack along the back wall of the restaurant. If it weren’t for the windows lining the back walls, it would seem more like a dungeon than a restaurant. However, the booths are very comfortable and the tables are relatively clean enough to eat off.

     Jack opened his phone again and dialed a number.

     “Hey, Jack,” the voice on the other line answered.

     “Hey, Mike, where are you?” Jack said while aimlessly flipping through the menu.

     “I’m just pullin’ in now,” Mike said, “I’ll be right in.”

     Jack shut his phone and stuffed it in his pocket.

     He thumbed through the menu more attentively this time as the waiter approached his table.

     “Hi my name is Brian,” the waiter said,”I’ll be your server this afternoon… Oh… do you have someone else joining you?”

     “Uhh yeah… he’s… ahh… yeah, there he is,” Jack said, “he’s coming.”

     “Why are we all the way back here?” Mike asked as he pulled the chair out from under the table, flung his jacket over the back and took his seat.

     “Don’t know,” Jack said turning towards the waiter, “I’ll start off with ahh… glass of water… no ice.”

     “Lemon?” Brian asked.

     “Uhh… no, no lemon.”

     “For you, sir? Can I start you off with something to drink?” Brian asked Mike.

     Mike had just picked up the menu and was reading through it when the waiter asked him.

     “Yeah, just give me a…” Mike paused for a moment, squinting at the menu, “Hey I’ll take lemonade.”

     “Lemonade?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Okay, gentleman, I’ll get those in for you…” Brian said, “Oh, did you… want to start off with an appetizer?”</fo

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     “Mike?” Jack asked.

     “No, I’m good,” he said.

     “Okay, I’ll be back with your drinks,” Brian said.

     “So… Jack… what’d you wanna talk about?” Mike said putting down his menu.

     Jack sighed as he folded up his menu.

     “It’s Cassidy,” he said finally.

     “What… she break up with you again?” Mike asked.

     “No, Mike, that was a long time ago…” he said, “She’s uhh… well, Cassidy’s pregnant.”

     “No way… you’re kiddin’, right?” Mike said.

     “I wish I was,” Jack said sighing.

     “Oh come on man… this is great news,” Mike said slapping Jack on the shoulder, “We should be celebrating!”

     “I don’t know, Mike, I…”

     “All right, guys,” Brian said interrupting Jack, “Here’s your water… no ice, no lemon… and your lemonade.”

     “Thanks,” Jack and Mike said in unison.

     “Are we ready to order yet,” Brian said looking from one to the other, “Or you want a couple more minutes…?”

     “Uhh,” Mike said, “Give us a little more time.”

     Brian nodded his head and dashed off into the kitchen.

     “Jack,” Mike said quietly, leaning over the table to get his attention, “Come on, Jack. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

     “I don’t know…” Jack said reaching for his glass of water, “I don’t know.”

     Jack took a sip of the water, licked his lips and put the glass back on the table, absent-mindedly placing it right back on the ring that formed on the table.

     Mike sat back in his chair letting his left arm dangle behind it. He fiddled with the napkin the waiter left to put under his glass of lemonade.

     Jack and Mike sat quietly while the restaurant grew louder as more and more people began to enter.

     With her painfully held smile, Clara escorted many of the customers through the thick cloud of smoke to the back of the restaurant, sitting many around Jack and Mike.

     The vacant room that Jack had originally entered was now busting with life.

     “Sorry, guys,” Brian said, “All of a sudden we got a rush of people… You ready to order?”

     “Yeah,” Mike said looking up at Jack who was still fiddling with his hands in his lap, “Jack, let’s order… whaddya want?”

     “I’m not really hungry anymore,” Jack said looking up.

     “You don’t have to order a meal,” Mike said.

     “

Just giving me an order of chicken tenders,” Jack said, “With honey mustard… no barbeque.”

     “Okay… honey mustard,” Brian said, “And you?”

     “Barbeque chicken sandwich… and instead of the fries… could I get a… uhh… baked potato?” Mike said.

     “Sure, I can do that,” Brian said, “Is that all?”

     “Umm… Salad, Caesar Salad… does it come with anchovies?”

     “No,” Brian said.

     “Okay, that’s all,” Mike said.

     “All righty gentleman… thank you for being patient, I’ll put these in for you… Okay,” He said.

     Jack went back to fiddling with his hands in his lap while Mike shook his head.

     “Jack, you know you look really pathetic right now,” he said.

     “What…”

     “You look like a bump on a log,” he said, “And you still got your jacket on! Relax…”

     At the request of Mike, Jack removed his jacket and placed it beside him on the booth. He stared at the glass in front of him.

     “Okay, now you’re scaring me…” Mike said, “You’re always the one pullin’ me outta stuff. What’s gotten into you?”

     Mike took a gulp of his lemonade, letting out a cold gasp as he put the glass back on the table.

     “Whew! That’s cold,” he said.

     Jack nodded his head as he began rotating his glass on the table.

     “You know,” Jack started, “Life can be told over a glass of water.”

     “Ah shit… So now you’re gonna get philosophical on me,” Mike said, “You know I don’t do philosophy.”

     “Life can cease to exist… with just a sip… a little sip of water,” Jack said, completely ignoring Mike.

     Jack dipped his finger into the glass. He swirled the water around for a few minutes and then removed it, wiping the excess water on his pants.

     “But at the same time,” Jack continued, “life can be nourished with a glass of water. It’s amazing.”

     “Right, Jack,” Mike said, “You know why I’m hitting myself with a hammer?”

     Jack laughed.

     “Because it feels so good when I stop,” Mike said, “You were all depressed about Cassidy getting pregnant and now here you are… as always… philosophuckin’ around a silly little glass of water.”

     “You know…” Jack said, “I’ve always been one to contemplate the… the level of water in a glass.”

     “Like the glass half-empty or half-full?” Mike said.

     “Exactly, Mike,” Jack said, “You’re not so bad after all.”

     “I don’t get you

sometimes,” Mike said.

     Jack stared at the glass for a few minutes, shifting his line of site ever so often. He could see objects being magnified through the glass.

     “You know your head’s a lot bigger if you look through the glass,” Jack said to Mike.

     “Don’t even go there, Jack,” Mike said.

     “I’ve always had a pessimistic view on life, which should explain why I always view the glass as half-empty,” Jack said.

     “This philoso…pho…whatever is ridiculous,” Mike said, “the glass is only half-full when somebody takes a pitcher of water… yeah? …and fills it… get this… halfway…”

     “So then you see the glass as half-full?” Jack asked.

     “No, Jack,” Mike said, “I’m sayin’… if you were to fill the glass all the way to the top, the glass would be…”

     “Full.”

     “Right… now if I were to drink the water… all the way to the middle…” Mike said.

     “Half-empty,” Jack chimed in.

     “Yeah,” Mike said.

     “You know you’re a pretty good philosopher, Mike,” Jack said.

     “It scares me,” Mike said.

     While Jack and Mike continue to discuss the glass of water, a man stands up from a few tables down from them. He rushes over to their table and grabs the glass of water with his right hand, spilling some water over the edges. Jack and Mike sit in shock as the man brings the cup to his mouth and guzzles down the entire contents of the glass.

     “Ahhhh!” the man said slamming the cup down on the table, “Sorry, I’ve been eyeing that glass of water for awhile now… contemplating whether or not you were actually going to finish it or make it levitate. I couldn’t bear to wait any longer.”

      Jack snapped his mouth shut. Mike scrunched his brow trying desperately to figure out what drew this man over here to drink the water out of Jack’s glass.

     “Wha…ooh…wha… Uhh… We we’re just discussing… uhh… the glass being half-empty or half-full,” Jack managed to say.

     “What?” the man said with a grin, “You’re looking at it all wrong. There is no sense in discussing whether the glass is half-empty or half-full.”

     “…took the words right out of my mouth,” Mike muttered under his breath.

     “While you sit there contemplating the existence of water… the water in that very glass… there will always be someone ready to drink what is left.

     “Water… is essential. Don’t forget that,” the man said.

     The man quickly turned around and headed back to his seat.

     Jack signaled for Brian, “Can I have another glass of water?”

     Brian nodded his head and returned with a pitcher of water.

     Jack quickly put his hands over the glass.

     “No,” he said, “Take this one away… I need a new glass.”

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