The Diner

A Story by Brennan Garcia

A nostalgic piece.

O' Neil's Diner was a place that my family and I ate at often. After those long days of being glued to a desk and horsing around with my classmates on the walk home from school, it was nice to relax and enjoy an evening with my parents. The first time I heard about the diner was on my eleventh birthday. My parents promised me that they were taking me to the newly opened and successful, Disneyland, however, their pockets seemed to be too dry to fulfill that promise. A little while after my complaining, my parents decided to take me out to dinner instead. Of course, I was still stricken with anger and jealously at all those people that could afford to buy a ticket to the magical and beautiful, Disneyland. On the way to O' Neil's, I dwelled on these feelings of anger and jealously, but they seemed to fade after we turned the corner. "Tremendous", I thought. I had never seen something so bright and elegant before. Tucked in between the local barber shop and Milly's Grocery, sat the diner that would later become my home away from home. The silver arches that stood on the sides entrance were gleaming and I could see my reflection in them. The entrance was comprised of two red doors with gold handles. This diner seemed too luxurious to be placed in the center of an old, almost baron town. Upon entering, I was greeted with sweet music; "A Teenager in Love" by Dion and the Belmonts to be exact. I was also greeted by the smell of almost every treat I loved and my parents hated. The appeal of the diner was heightened by its appearance as well. The bright red booths accompanied the black and white checkered floor beautifully. Hanging on the white walls were signs and advertisements promoting the various items of the restaurant. "Delicious milkshakes!" and "Are you hungry for our new, scrumptious cheeseburger?" were two of the signs I remember the most because of their vivid colors. The waitresses were dressed in their red and white striped aprons and were happily serving and taking orders. The thing that made me fall in love with this place was the life of it all. Everyone was so happy and seemed to be enjoying their night; and this immediately chirped me up and brought a smile to my face. The whole night was a delight for me and my parents could tell because we made it a tradition to go there every Sunday night. As the years went by and as the town I knew changed around me, O' Neil's stayed the same until I packed up my things and left. My parents had stopped the tradition after I left for college and upon my return, O' Neil's was the first place I visited. I stood in front of the building that took the place of O' Neil's and had a moment of silence. The diner that I had once turned to for comfort was nothing more than a storage facility, whose brick walls served as a grave to me. It seemed that I had been gone for a generation and the town which raised me looked nothing like it did when I left it. After a final glance at what my adolescence had turned into, I started up the sidewalk to my car and drove around the corner with a few fleeting images to console me. The wondrous silver arches were now frozen in my memory, left to rust and decay.