Good Afternoon

The apartment building door slammed shut behind him as he stood for a moment on the small cement porch of the building. The sun, held in the clear blue morning sky, shown on his face while a soft breeze rustled some of the trash that spilt out of the tipped over trash can. A small short haired dog dug for scraps of food buried deeper inside the can. Justin stood for a moment holding the bag in his arm and looked up and down the street. These old brick buildings lining the 2 lane street showed their age with signs of needing repair everywhere. Up the block a ways, some boys where throwing a football between them while a young girl sat on the curb watching them. Looking the other way, towards the direction he needed to go, and abandoned car sat with windows broken, tires and wheels missing having been stripped of anything worth stealing a long time ago. He looked at his watch then stepped down the 5 steps to the side walk and headed on to Molly's Diner. He jogged past people from the neighborhood, waved or said a quick good morning to some of them he knew. It wasn't long before he came to Molly's Diner.

The large clean windows gave a clear view of the inside of the diner where a row of booths around the outer wall where occupied by customers engrossed in their meals and conversations. The bar counter ran the length of the diner. At the other end Molly stood behind the cash register taking cash from an elderly man. A large neon sign hung in the center window blinked "Molly's Diner". Justin walked by the blue ceramic tile that filled the space below the windows to the sidewalk, around the corner to the door that faced the corner of 5th and Tailor Street. A bell rang out as he opened the door and stepped into the diner. The elderly man was on his way out, so Justin held the door open for him. He smiled and nodded at Justin as he continued on his way.

"Justin, I see your Mother is true to her word." Molly said cheerfully as Justin approached her.

"Oh yeah, you know that for sure." He handed Molly the bag of aprons. "She said if you need more, she has the patterns and will be glad to make more for you."

Molly put the bag on the counter next to the cash register, then took out a neatly folded apron, holding it up to allow it to unfold before her. "These are beautiful!" She looked at it more closely, "And such wonderful craftsmanship."

"Mom said you would pay me for these," he paused, "$125.00."

Justin watched as Molly removed her old apron and replaced it with the new one. She sort of twirled around as though she was modeling it, then called to one of her waitresses, "Betty, come and get your new apron." Then her attention returned to Justin who stood patiently smiling at her. "Hun, would you like a nice piece of fresh apple pie?"

"No thanks, I need to be heading back home." He looked at his watch, "I have a job interview this afternoon and need to get ready for it."

Molly opened the cash register, removed several 20 dollar bills then handed them to Justin, "Well, okay then. Come back later if you want. The pie will be on the house." She winked at him while she handed him the money.

He took it and counted it. "I think you made a mistake," he paused for a moment as he counted the bills she handed him. "There's $140.00 here."

"Hun, haven't you ever heard of a tip?" She laughed out loud.

"Thank you very much. I'm sure Mom will be delighted." He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, put the money into it, then returned it to his pocket. "Well, I got to go. Thanks again." He waved to her as he turned around and headed out the door.

"See ya soon Hun." Molly replied before she took the check from another customer who was waiting there.

Out on the sidewalk again, which was now more crowded with people, he decided to run all the way home, so he started slowly dodging people on the side walk as he ran until he cleared the busy area then began to run as though he was in a race. When he reached the foot of their apartment building porch, he was hot and sweaty. The noon sun shown down on him, its heat reflected off the surroundings. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and flung the drips of it off his hand and fingers with a flick of his wrist, then wiped his hand on his shorts before opening the building door. Inside the lobby, next to the door were the mail boxes, since he was there, he decided to see if they got any mail. Once their mail box was opened he found a couple of business sized envelopes and some advertisement stuff . He removed the mail then closed and locked the box. He leaped up the flight of stairs taking 3 steps at a time then walked briskly down the hall to their apartment.

When he got there, he noticed the door was slightly ajar. This was strange. He pushed open the door and called out, "Mom, I'm home." He looked around and the apartment was a complete wreck. It looked as though a tornado had gone threw the place as everything was turned over, torn or broken on the floor. He felt a sudden fear come over him as he looked around and called again, "Mom?"

No answer.