A Pocketful Of Peace

6. Happy Hours

It was almost past 11:00 pm when the last of the customers for the day walked out with their bellies fuller than necessary and their wallets a lot lighter. Such was the magic of Appa's recipes that no one could think of dieting while dining in the kitchen and yet, the revenue generation was pathetic. The diner was always overflowing with the age-old patrons but to pull in the younger crowd? Well, to stay in a competition, you have to get into it in the first place and Appa simply refused to upgrade the diner to compete with the ever-mushrooming coffee houses in town. The newer generation was looking for A great ambience rather than the aroma and tastes and Prasanna refused to acknowledge the changing tastes of the town. He was still wrapped up in the mouthwatering flavors from head to toe, to actually take note of his dull and fading interiors.

Manjunathan walked in the kitchen's kitchen. Well, the actual cooking place of the diner. Aman looked up from the fridge where he had been busy fitting in all the half-cooked gravies. Sandy was packing away the leftovers from the day. For many years now, Prasanna had made it a habit of giving away the day's leftovers to the needy folks residing on the streets of Madikeri. It was part of Manjunathan's job profile to go and distribute the food amongst the lesser fortunate.

"Akka" He addressed Sandy. "Are you done? It's getting late. Not that I mind, but it's Ishu's birthday today. Thought I could get home before the date changes..."

"Who's Ishu?" asked Aman.

Manjunathan's face flushed a beetroot red in color. "Anna... Ishu is, well..."

"His special friend." Sandy finished it for him. The cleaner cum delivery boy of Katti Appa's Kitchen had found his lady love a few weeks ago and was trying very hard to convince her father for their marriage. The fact that he worked at a diner that was barely afloat didn't exactly help solve the matters for him.

"Oh!" exclaimed Aman. "That's nice. I am happy for you, Manju. Congratulations on your impending marriage."

"Thank you, Anna. Ishu's father is a tough nut to crack. I don't even know whether he will give us his blessings at all." He commented in a doubtful voice.

"come on! He can't be as tough as your Appa. And if you can withstand dear old Katti Appa's fury and still hold on to your job, believe me, you can brave any storm." Aman tried to give him confidence. "I am sure you will win him over. Don't give up, ever!"

"Hey Manju... why don't you go ahead? We will deliver the food for today." Sandy suggested.

Manju hesitated but then gave in. He handed over the keys to Aman and left for Ishu's place.

Aman and Sandy worked in silence for the rest of the time. They scrubbed and wiped and cleaned everything from the dishes and the counters to the floors. By 12:30 am, they were ready to put the padlock on the shutters.

"I wonder why we even bother to put these on? It will anyways be time to open these in another 4-5 hours." Asked Aman, tossing the keys her way. Sandy caught then effortlessly.

"So that Appa and the rest of us can have a sound sleep?" Sandy replied as she slipped the keys into her sling bag.

"Good thing we let Manju off. It's quite late." Aman said, glancing at his watch.

"...and we haven't even given away these packages." Sandy commented with a sigh.

"Should I walk you home before I deliver those?" He asked with concern.

"It's all right. It's not like anybody is waiting at home for me to return." She replied casually, but Aman could sense the loss she was feeling. He yearned to embrace her in a consoling hug and yet he couldn't bring himself to do that. He knew his friend very well. She thought of herself as a strong girl and he believed in her. He knew when she needed her space and was ever ready to give her that.

A few blocks down the lane, at the crossing, under the bridge, they left their packages for the rightful owners to claim them. Once the task was accomplished, Aman walked her home. Outside her cottage, they exchanged the last greetings for the day and parted ways. Sandy went inside and Aman continued down the lane towards his own place. He had barely walked a few paces when he realized that the keys were still with Sandy and he had to return them to his uncle. He contemplated whether he should disturb Sandy at this late hour but then realized, he had dropped her just then and it was highly unlikely that she would have fallen asleep. He added a fuming Kattappa to his imagination and before you could even blink your eyes, he was back at Sandy's door. He was about to knock when a high-pitched scream disturbed the calm of the night.

...........................................................

Hello there! I hope you have missed me and Aman during the long absence. I know I haven't posted in a long time but it's the ongoing worldwide crisis that is solely to be blamed. Oh no! Don't worry. I am fine and so are my near and dear ones. It's just that the schools have declared summer holidays a little in advance and the kids are at home. With them around the whole day and night, I just didn't realize when the weekend came and went away!

On a serious note, stay home as much as you can and stay safe. Let's hope we all safely get through and are able to put behind us, this critical time. Look at the brighter side... we have a lot of time at our disposal to go back to reading bed time stories and connect with our own lost childhood when we put our little ones to bed.

Here's hoping for a brighter and healthier future for the mankind and mother nature.

See you soon in the virtual world here, on wattpad. Adios!