Eilise, God, And The Witches [Fake Tattoos #2]

The Legend of Zelda

June, 1978

It was eight o'clock and Eilise had just finished the "dinner rush" at the diner. The rush consisted of four people from town and four people from Big Lake, the next town over. She counted her tips. It didn't take long.

She hoped with the warmer weather coming in, it would bring more tourists into the restaurant, but there had been no luck yet. Over the winter, people would stop into town on their way to go skiing, hunting, or ice fishing. But a spring rolled on, more and more often, it would be her and Zelda, listening to the hum of the old electric refrigerator.

 Zelda sat down at one of the booths with a cup of coffee. After taking a sip, she lit up a cigarette.

"Come on," she said, slapping her hand on the table.

Eilise folded the depressing wad of cash and stuffed it in her pocket. She grabbed herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from Zelda. Zelda shook the opened, half-empty, pack of cigarettes at Eilise. Eilise took one from the pack and lit it up.

"That bad, huh?" Zelda said, tapping the end of her cigarette against the edge of the ashtray, even though not enough ash had formed yet to fall off. "It'll get better. Just wait."

"I hope so," said Eilise. She knew it wasn't really that important. It's not like she paid rent. Bobby practically paid for every. She didn't pay rent. She hardly ever drove her car anywhere anymore.

But, that didn't make it better. She liked having her own money, even if all she ever spent it on was cigarettes.

"Did I ever tell you about my husband?" Zelda asked.

"No," said Eilise. She pointed at a picture on the wall. "But I know that's him. Harry, right?"

"Harry..." Zelda smiled. "He was more than just his good looks, you know. He was the love of my life."

"How did you meet?" Eilise asked knowing it was the question Zelda was going to answer whether she asked it or not.

"It was 1928, if you can believe that!" Zelda cackled with lungs full of smoke. "We were in New York. I worked in a textile mill, he worked in a restaurant as a host. After he sat me at my table, he asked, 'Will anyone be joining you?' He had the most gorgeous smile when he asked it too. He would never admit it, but I could tell he was hoping the answer would be no, which it was."

"That's when he said, 'Then if you have no objection, I would love to have dinner with you.' I said, 'I have no objection, but I would think you be far too busy working to give me the attention I deserve.' I know, I was being terribly cheeky, but I didn't think he was being serious. Well, Harry could not have been more serious."

"So what happened next?" Eilise asked, no longer just humoring her, but genuinely interested in the story.

"Well," said Zelda, "he sat right down at the table with me and said 'Madame, you have my attention now and forever.'"

"Oh my goodness," said Eilise.

"I know! Right then I was hooked. He pulled the waiter over and ordered wine and bread. We began talking. All the while, now, the line of people was building up and up, waiting to be seated. Harry never so much as looked over his shoulder. I tried to tell him, maybe he should go back to work before he gets in trouble. Do you know what he said?"

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'people can wait, love never waits.'"

"Oh my god."

"Well, of course, the manager finds out and comes over to the table. 'Harry!' he shouts, 'Harry what are you doing? Get back to work or you're fired!' Harry just shoves the menus in his hands and says, 'Fine! Then fire me! And fire us a couple of T-Bones while you're at it!'"

The two women burst out laughing.

"So that was it then? True love at first sight?" Eilise asked.

"Oh, no." said Zelda.

"No?"

"No."

"Well? So what made you fall in love?"

"Oh..." Zelda's mind drifted off into the past. She took a drag of her cigarette and ashed it. "Nothing in particular. We dated for a while and then one day, we just both knew. Then we got married."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." Zelda held up her hand showing the gold ring. "The engagement ring was silver. It was just after the stock market crash. We were both out of work. I don't know how he even managed to pay for a silver ring." With a bit of wrestling, she wiggled the gold ring off of her finger. She held it up and looked inside the band. "He bought me this one years later, after we moved out to Hoodoo forks. There's an inscription inside, see?" Zelda handed Eilise the ring.

"You are my home," Eilise read from inside the ring.

"Try it on," said Zelda.

"What?" Eilise asked.

"Try it on," Zelda said again, "If it looks good on you, maybe I'll leave it to you in my will."

"Don't be silly," said Eilise. "You're not dying and time soon."

"Humor an old lady, would ya?"

Eilise supposed it couldn't hurt. The ring was warm, either from Zelda's hand or the coffee cup. It was hard to tell which. She let it drop over the ring finger of her left hand. She held her hand up and wiggled her fingers.

"See," said Eilise, "it's too big." She slid the ring off and handed it back to Zelda.

"I guess so," said Zelda slipping the ring back on. "I guess I'm going to have to feed you more pie." She got up, made her way towards the lazy Suzan, and grabbed two small plates.