Mystic Circuits

Open Your Eyes: Part 3

"ORDER FOR JONES!" A worker sporting a red cap and apron announced out from behind their counter at Patcheez, placing a brown paper bag down with grease seeping through its bottom. Every corner of the dining area was silent; a person walking in would first be able to make out the buzz of a fly before any semblance of social interaction from other humans. All ten tables in the restaurant were perfectly wiped and shining and showing no signs of being occupied by guests for at least another day. This was 10:20 on a Wednesday.

"That's me..." Jones, a man who must have been in his late nineties, said as he walked, ever so slowly to pick up the bag. "Thank you..." He waved goodbye as he traveled to the door with his order.

He reached for the handle, but it was held open for him by a young woman, wearing the same red cap and apron.

"Thank you, Ms.!" He scooted past her.

"You're welcome," Azura said.

The woman at the counter heard her voice, and called to her from her station, "Where have you been? I've been covering for you!"

"Sorry Triss I was held up. I've got the cash register covered; you can take a break."

She smiled and went to the back of the building while Azura began to get set up at the register, before Azura hollered back, "Hey is Mack coming in today?"

"Nah he's doing something. You need him?"

Azura tightened her lips. "No. Don't worry about it."

"Hey Azura!" the young cook greeted her from the kitchen.

"Hi Nick."

It was 12:30.

Azura made sure the cash register was covered, and walked through the kitchen to access a silver metal door hiding in the back of the building. One shove, and she was out in the back alley, sharing air with the dumpster that hadn't been emptied since Thursday. There was a single gray step under the door that she sat on as she put her wrist to her mouth, with her watch dialing Mack's number.

"Azura?"

"Hi Mack, how are you?" she spoke into the watch.

A slight pause existed whenever she stopped speaking, as she waited for the audio to reach his end. "Oh, I'm good. I'm at the lake with my family right now. Why you calling, everything going alright there?"

"Yes, everything's good, I'm sorry to be calling while you're with your family I just wanted to discuss something with you, do you think you have a few minutes?"

"Uh... yeah... I guess I can talk for a sec, what's up?"

"I was hoping to talk about the possibility of a pay raise?"

"A pay raise?" he said to himself.

"Unless of course you think this would be better suited to talk about in person."

"No no, you can keep going."

"Well, I feel like I have been very consistent with my work for the past year, and I have been picking up more shifts than usual in the last month, along with helping to situate the new hires. My rent was also raised recently so... I think at this point in my career at the restaurant, a salary increase would be appropriate."

"Well... yeah I mean you have been with us a while, I can definitely see where you're coming from... sure yeah I think we could look into giving you a bump."

"Wonderful, thank you so much... we'll look into it?"

"Sure, I mean we could figure something out right now, if you want."