[COMPLETED UNTIL SEASON 5]
Ana Thompson always seems to wind up in the strangest predicaments...
A perpetual victim of Murphy's Law, Ana finds herself arriving in Hawkins, Indiana just prior to the events of November 6th, 1983.
And, just prior to f...
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EVERY TUESDAY, Thursday, and Sunday evening played out the same way for Ana Thompson, the Hawkins locals quickly began to realize.
At 6:00 PM, like clockwork, she would roll up to Benny's Burgers and occupy a table alone, with nothing more than a used paperback book to keep her company. Each visit, she'd order a different item from the menu, but always with the same caveat, no tomatoes.
Some people find dining solo to be an awkward, and, well, often sad affair. However, Ana didn't subscribe to such notions. As far as she was concerned, once you had reached a certain age and were still single, you learned how to get on with the necessities of life. No sense in waiting on others to coordinate their schedules with yours.
It was on one of these standard Thursday evenings, after she had been in town for around two weeks, when Benny Hammond became the first person to make an attempt at befriending Ana, beyond occasional niceties.
"I gotta wonder, how you can read a book like that and not go to bed scared as hell," Benny commented casually while refilling her water glass. A small smirk graced her features at the attempt to break the ice, and she earmarked the page she was on, carefully closing her copy of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
"It takes a bit more than words to scare me these days, Mr. Hammond," was the reply she gave when her eyes gradually inclined towards him.
Benny Hammond reminded most people of a bear. Huge, potentially lethal, but at the end of the day, he still looked so damn huggable. Given enough time, Ana would have developed more than a substantial crush on the owner of Benny's Burgers, and she knew it too. God, was she a sucker for tall men, and if they had a beard to go along with it, even better!
"Mr. Hammond is my father, people around here call me Benny," he stated while holding his large hand out to the woman in greeting.
Taking the offered appendage and giving it a firm shake, she responded simply with, "Ana Thompson."
"That's what I'd heard," came Benny's retort as he pulled out the seat across from her, and made himself comfortable at the table. The plastic chair disappeared beneath his broad frame and even with the prominent shag of his shoulders, Benny was still an imposing presence opposite her.
"Ah," she expelled with a chuckle while crossing her arms over her chest, leaning back in the foldable chair to appraise her new companion with a raised bow. "There's been talk of me, then?" The smirk that hadn't left her face since Benny struck up a conversation, growing slightly more pronounced.
"It's a small town," came his answer, paired with a noncommittal shrug, and that was all the response she was getting from that particular inquiry. Instead, Benny followed up with his own query, "so, where are you from, Ms. Thompson?"
"If it's Benny to me, then it's Ana to you," she taunted with a wave of the hand and received a hearty chuckle in response. "Houston, Texas," was ultimately the answer to the question that had been lingering in the air of Hawkins over the last couple of weeks.
"Texas is an awfully long way from Indiana," Benny observed while eying the newcomer skeptically. "How's a girl like you end up in a town like this?" Came Benny's follow-up interrogation. Again, no one simply ended up in Hawkins, so his doubt was justifiable.
Ana sighed heavily, and her eyes downturned to the table in front of her for a few moments, noting the nicks and scratches in the well-worn table, before peering back up at Benny. "That's an exceptionally long story, and I believe you have customers to attend to."
At her observation, they both looked around the burger joint that, aside from Earl and Henry, was relatively empty. Their collective gazes returned from scanning the room, and back to each other, sharing a knowing smile.
