Dream Girl

Familia

Do you ever get to a certain point where you know what's happening, but everything just feels like a dream?

That's what happened today.

As soon as we arrive at Hermosa Casa, my mind kind of just stopped. Like I was watching through my eyes, but not as me. It was a strange experience. Bea pulled me into the restaurant through the back door, threw an apron on me, and then pushed me towards the sink. There I stood for about 4 hours, washing dishes. Everything behind me was a blur as dishes upon dishes were stacked on the counter beside me.

Dish

Upon Dish

Upon Dish

And then, more dishes.

And then, nothing?

I stopped, glancing back at the counter. There was nothing there anymore. I had finished.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I whipped around, finally seeing Bea there.

"Oh, good, you just finished. Everything out front is clean up, so it's time for the daily meeting." She smiled as she turned to lead me to the front.

Her hair had been pulled up into a half bun, half ponytail, but part of it had fallen out with the occasional stray hair due to the busy work of the job. She also wore the same apron as me, which i hadn't actually taken a proper look at it. It was a full apron in an orange color, with the Hermosa Casa logo in red in the corner.

I pulled my focus back to the current moment just as Bea sat down in one of the restaurant's booths and motioned for me to sit down. As I did, I looked around the front of the restaurant. It was filled with more warm colors of reds and oranges, with hints of sky blue and other bright colors to accent the rest of it.

There were also people sitting among the empty place. Everyone but three were seated among the chairs and booths. Those three stood in in front of one of those kitchen pass through windows and looked to be the family that owned the restaurant. They were a Latino family, consisting of a young couple with a daughter who looked to be of around middle school age. The girl stood with her arms crossed across her chest, wearing a shirt too sizes too small and a pair of shorts that seemed to match. The woman seemed to be arguing with her about that, but it looked to only go in one ear, and out the ear as she rolled her eyes, and then turned, and walked out of the room. The room silenced as the back door could be heard being slammed.

The man stepped forward, a bright smile spread across his face as he spread his arms. "Good evening familia!" He had a deep and booming voice that filled the whole room without him even having to try. He had short, stubby black hair that was on the edge of white. He had a prominent nose, and his face was covered with smile lines and a few others, probably from stress.

"Tonight, we actually get to welcome two more members. Everyone, meet Bea and Brandon. B and B, meet everyone!"

And suddenly, I was back in that state again. Like I remember meeting all of these people, the girl with the red hair, a little old lady, some tall dude, another tall dude, but Asian, and then a short boy whose name I actually remembered.

His name was Rogelio.

Extra roll on the r.