Drabble: A Fulfilling Meal
A greasy hamburger and french fries.
It was a somewhat shabby little diner, but Jack didn’t care. Ennis’s truck had gotten a flat tire on the trip out. They had time to kill while he waited to get the new one on and the alignment checked, so they were sharing a meal before heading off in their separate directions again.
It was one of those rare times that Ennis was willing to be seen with him in public, usually reluctant to meet anywhere but the remote locations they chose for their ‘fishing trips’, like when that freak storm blew in the spring before last and they took refuge at Mona’s All-Night Coffee Shop ‘til it passed.
Jack relished these simple times together, out in the world like normal people instead of tucked away in the woods like some kind of shameful secret. He took comfort in the bright fluorescent lights and bustle of activity. It made him feel like they were just a couple of folks, like any other you’d see around, with just as much right to be there together as anyone else.
Sometimes being with Ennis out in the middle of nowhere made Jack feel so isolated that it seemed almost like a figment of his imagination, as if it were all a dream and not real at all. The very ordinariness of their surroundings here gave “this thing” of theirs credence, in a way that the flickering light of a campfire couldn’t quite do. One smile from Ennis, out here in the open where anyone could see it, was worth almost as much as a dozen rugged embraces under a silent moon.
Soon, as Jack knew it would, their time in this urban oasis came to an end. He would drive Ennis back to his truck and they would say goodbye, forbearing even to shake hands, an awkward “See ya next time” sufficing for their farewell. He turned to look at the remnants on the used dishes that were the only mark of their having been here together.
A greasy hamburger and french fries.
It was the best meal he had all year.