the park bench

f i f t e e n

f i f t e e n

"mother? i'm hungry." joanne poked her head around the kitchen door.

"we don't have groceries, honey, i can't cook anything for you." mrs. gibson sighed as she put her glasses and orange juice down on the counter. "how about this, you call down jo and your father, then we'll go out for some food?"

grinning widely, joanne nodded. "awesome! can we get some italian food from the diner next to the cinema?"

"peter's pancakes? wow, haven't been in that one, yeah. let's try it out."

"it's pete's pancakes and pasta, mother," joanne corrected sharply before turning around and heading towards the front door. "jo, dad, get down here, we're having some pasta for dinner!"

"yeah!" joseph cried out from the top of the stairs with mr. gibson chuckling and following after him.

the gibson's filed into the car and drove towards the destination, with joseph and joanne bugging each other throughout in the back seats for the entire duration of the ride.

they slid into a booth beside a window, joseph sat beside mr. gibson next to the window and mrs. gibson took the seat opposite her son and beside joanne.

"hello, welcome to pete's pancakes and pasta. what would you like to order?" the waitress asked in monotonously, like she's had the line drilled in her head and she's said a million times before – she probably had.

"oh! we would like two bolognese spaghettis, one for me and one for him," mr. gibson ordered, "a medium pepperoni pizza and..."

"cream of mushroom soup and breadsticks, please." mrs. gibson smiled at the waitress, finishing her order.

smiling back tightly, the waitress jot the order down and headed to the back with her phone to her ear.

"the service here isn't the best," mrs. gibson commented, breaking the silence.

joseph shrugged. "maybe it's just that waitress, the food might be good though. maybe better than yours." and then the table elapsed into another silence until the food arrived.

"here's your food, the soup will arrive later, since one of the wait staff had a family issue and we're a bit behind on orders," a new waitress said with a weary smile, interrupting joanne's under the table game of flappy bird. "i hope you enjoy the food."

joanne snapped her head up instantly. "thanks!" her eyes widened and a smug grin spread across her face. "i would like some water, please."

the waitress – lark – narrowed her eyes. "sure, valued customer."

a moment later, lark arrived back with soup and a glass of water. by now, mrs. gibson was reading on her phone while munching on pizza and the two men were in a heated conversation about jo's football game. "anything else?"

"can i have some ice in my water?" joanne smiled innocently.

"of course." after retrieving cubes, lark sent joanne a forced smile. "anything else?"

"i change my mind, i don't want water. i want juice. can i have apples, mangos, oranges and grapes squeezed together into a glass and have lemons and limes on the side? thanks."

"sure, why don't you hand me your grocery list while you're at it?" lark muttered under her breath, making sure joanne was the only one to hear.

scowling, lark stomped back to the kitchen, ignoring joanne's mischievous giggle. when she got back, the pizza was devoured and the spaghettis were almost finished. "here you go, dearest customer of mine."

"you're forgetting the limes." lark's eyes lit up, she took the limes out of her pocket with a smug grin, clearly forgetting on purpose. "oh, i don't want this drink, it's for you for the wonderful service."

lark looked at the suspicious drink and looked back at the amused joanne.

and she swore she regurgitated in her mouth.