Chapter One - Tango at The Diner

jonah Blondel arrives at his favourite diner for his customary meal, but things don't go as they normally do.

Chapter One " The Tango at the Diner

“Will that be all, Sir?” The young waitress asked, as she set the coffee down on the table. The tall, dark-haired man smiled kindly at her in response. His clear blue eyes never blinking. 

He was a peculiar man. Always sat in the same place, at the same time and ordered the same thing. A double thick Latte and a toasted cheese and onion sandwich, with a dash of Cayenne pepper. Then he would sit for hours reading every paper on the rack. This had been going on for the last year since he had first visited Wiley’s Diner.

“Yes, thank you Gail.” He smiled. “You know you can call me Jonah.” He said as he folded up the Sunday paper. It was Monday, but she had been keeping the Sunday papers at his request. That had been the only real request he had ever made, aside from the unusual sandwich selection.

“I know. But being that this is my job and you are the customer, it is proper that I address you accordingly, Sir.” She smiled. They had played this game before. Occasionally he would flirt with her, and she with him but never any more than that. “Besides, my boss would have a cow if he heard me calling you by your first name. He’s a stickler for the ol’ propriety thing.” She turned away.

“Gail.” He said prompting her to turn back to him. He knew that she could not ignore him, thanks to the ol’ propriety thing. “When are you going to let me take you for dinner? Then you can be served for a change.” 

She cocked her head and raised an eyebrow in mock disgust. “As soon as the first pig takes flight. Now drink your coffee, before it gets cold.” She smiled again. “I would love to play this game, but I have other people in need of my attention.”

“Indeed you do.” Jonah grinned. “That fellow looks ready to devour the table he is sitting at.” The man glared at him. “And the chair it seems.” Jonah then reached for his mug and tipped it at the man and smiled. The upset patron huffed and looked the other direction.”

“Are you antagonising my patrons?” She said as she slipped her notebook into her apron pocket.

“No, not at all.” He smiled. “Run along.” He said, then took a sip of his Latte, which had by that time cooled to just right temperature. 

The morning passed much as it had always done. Noon came, and went. Mr Ciccone and Mrs Petherbridge had sat at their usual table, eaten and left. Many of the same faces appeared and disappeared throughout the day. Such was the nature of a small town. 

In the early afternoon, Jonah had settled into the last paper on the rack. He opened it to find an intriguing story on page four about strange bear attacks in Norway. He read through the story, then he heard Gail beside him, with his next Latte. 

“How you are still alive after all that caffeine is beyond me.” She seemed exhausted, and from what he had sensed a little annoyed. She left him and headed back to the teller where a man was waiting to pay his bill. She rang up the man’s bill, smiled graciously and then hung her head as he walked away. She was definitely burnt out, and she still had nearly five hours of her shift left. 

A moment later a sullen faced young woman appeared at the door. Judging by the look on her face, it was pretty clear that she did not want to be there. She stared around at the people in the diner obviously unimpressed with having to be there. She stopped as her gaze fell on Jonah. Locking eyes with him she stepped back and bumped into the wall behind her. She clutched her chest a moment and a grey fear flashed across her face.

Gail saw the girl and called her over. 

“Hi.” Gail greeted her, with a hug, which the girl barely reciprocated. “Come with me.”

The girl followed Gail to a small table on the opposite end of the room and set her there with a cup of coffee and a cheese sandwich, before returning to her duties. The girl sat silently sipping her coffee, and eating her sandwich. By the T of her face, Jonah deduced that this must be Emily. Her resemblance to Gail was slight, but it was enough to link them as sisters.

Jonah read his paper in silence. 

From across the room Emily watched him. With every single article having suffered his deepest scrutiny, Jonah closed the paper. Then he folded it and set onto the rack and leaned back in his seat. With his hands behind his head and yawned a long, deep yawn, and as he opened his eyes he started. Emily was no longer sitting at the table, but had moved to stand beside him as he yawned. She had moved swiftly, or he had yawned a great deal longer than he had realised. Suddenly he felt a distinct sensation in his chest. It was a kind of burning sensation in his heart. It was something he had not felt in years.

“Hi.” He straightened in his chair and turned to face her directly.

“What are you?” Her reply caught Jonah off guard. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, hoping that she would back off. He felt an unnerving shimmer in the air around her. He smiled, and tried to give the answer he thought would be the correct one. “Last time I checked, I was a guy.”

“I can see that is what you want us to believe, but what are you really?” she spoke, but her mouth did not move. Jonah froze as he heard her voice in his head.

“I am a man, Emily. What else should I be?” Jonah felt a feint pang of fear grown in the depths of his gut. He looked past Emily for Gail, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead he saw an overweight patron arguing with the manager about cold spaghetti. Jonah turned back to Emily, her grey eyes locked onto his. 

“You are lying.” Emily said as she stepped toward him. As she drew closer the tension in the air doubled. “What are you doing here?” She demanded.

“I was eating and reading the news, as I always do. What else do you want me to say?” by now all the patrons in the room had turned to see what the ruckus was about. Jonah stood and waved a hand, hoping to diffuse the curiousity of the onlookers.

“Stop lying to me!” Emily screamed. The windows in the establishment exploded and the once quiet diner erupted into a din of screams and crashing tables and chairs. Emily’s eyes turned a bright purple, and her pupils shimmered. Suddenly a blinding flash of white-light energy erupted from her. That was the last thing Jonah saw that day.