Word Diet - short stories with less calories

Dinner (#End)

Ramon reached over, grabbed the salt shaker, and robotically shook the tiny white crystals onto his plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  The meal was bland - as usual - but his dinner's mediocre quality was not what was on his mind this evening.  He had just made a big decision, and now he was thinking about the conversation that awaited him as a consequence.

It was a decision about endings and beginnings. 

Sitting by himself, he looked at his plate and thought about all the meals he had eaten alone:  dinners eaten after a long day at work, alone in the kitchen, his plate carefully saved in the refrigerator by his wife; then later, after his wife and kids had left him, dinners eaten alone in crowded restaurants.  They were meals that marked the end, like the "Last Supper." 

But every ending brought a beginning, and he smiled as he remembered dinners that were an excuse to meet a woman, the meal a starting point in a new relationship. 

He poked at his overcooked green beans and debated how he would approach Lynn with the news that he intended to end their relationship.  Many times before, he had been in this position as both the bearer and receiver of such news and despite his experience in the matter, it never got any easier.  Long ago, he had learned how to move-on, and that regret was a weed sown in yesterday's choices. 

He wasn't saying goodbye to Lynn on a whim, quite the contrary, as he had found love in a woman named Amanda.  Lynn was a nice woman; in fact, she reminded him of his last wife, but the spark he sought shined brightly in Amanda.  It was wonderful to experience that feeling again, particularly in defiance of the odds and the hourglass allied against him.  Use it well or waste it; the sand will continue to fall.

"Mr. Garcia... Mr. Garcia, are you done with your plate?" asked the young man cleaning the dining room tables.  Ramon had arrived late, just before the dining hall had closed, and was the last resident in the dining room.

He took a look at his half-eaten meatloaf and nodded to the busboy, who promptly collected the plate and silverware.  "Not hungry tonight, huh?" said the busboy as he smiled, loaded the dishes into his cart, and moved on to another table.

Ramon Garcia grabbed his walker, leaned on the apparatus, and slowly stood up.  His weathered and arthritic hands contrasting with the smooth silver aluminum of the walker.  He hobbled out of the dining hall on two bad knees and a hip that was pending replacement and into the All-Purpose Room where Friday night's Bingo game had started.  Lynn saw him and waved - he saw that she had saved him a chair.

He waved back and looked at the empty chair of their end.