Leroy's (part 15)

Switched titling format on ya, hope it doesn't throw ya off too much!

So, after having the be-hayzeus scared out of me by my roommates, I left. I freakin' bolted out of the house, and headed straight to my sanctuary. None of the regulars had arrived yet, I was the first. Joe was in the kitchen though, cookin' up some gnarly eggs or something, and I noticed that he had shaved his burly mustashe. He didn't look quite scarey enough anymore, and I was a touch disappointed.

One of the Korean waitresses poured my coffee and I asked for two menus, expecting Double O any minute. I told her I'd wait for him until I ordered anything. This served a duel purpose.
#1 I wouldn't be joined by a friend in the rude act of E.B.A.O.E.P. (Eating Before Arrival of Expected Party).
#2 I knew I could rely on Double O's erie grasp of time and that he'd show up really late and by then, the Koreans would be gone, and PrettyLiz could take over our table.

11 p.m. came around quickly as I supped the black stuff and re-read what I had written at the library earlier today. (Oh ya, I forgot to mention this. I went to the library and organized my timeline, corrected some continuity snafu's, and wrote another 8 pages or so.) PrettyLiz showed up on cue, as did Jeano the Regular. The Koreans split and us white folk had the place back to ourselves. The way things should be. {holy crap, Mungo, you're losin' it} Time minute-ed on and there continued to be no sign of Double O. I borrowed Liz's phone (the illuminated face said, 'banana phone') and called the man up... and woke the man up. Surprise surprise. "Oops," he said, "musta fallen asleep. Sorry dude, I'm too tired to move now." And so I was left alone at my booth.

That is, until two of PrettyLiz's friends showed up. One of them was named Josh. Liz said, "Josh, that's Erik. You guys would like each other." Now. I don't know for sure about you guys, but saying that kinda stuff makes a guy a little uncomfortable. Josh and I didn't even look each other in the eye the whole night after that. Argha! But his buddy, the one with four or five facial piercings and radical clothing was interested in something I told Liz. Like so: "Hey, dude. I looked up on the internet the name of that band that played on Conan last night. They're Arcade Fire. Huh? What's that now? Ya, dude. They rocked. There were, what Liz? Like 9 people on stage or something. The guys all wore suits and the girls wore skirts. They had two, count 'em, two, violinists, an accordian chick, guitars, horns and multiple percussionists. I think there was also a few guys on stage doing nothing but wrestling with motocross helmets on. Oh ya, and they sounded awsome too. They all sang. It was nuts. Arcade Fire. They're album is called Funeral. Ya man, check 'em out."

Later, Jeano got something stuck in his craw and on an impromptu monologe of his loathing for the owners, drew everyone's attention in the 'straunt as he proceeded to tear thier absent asses a new defication shute. To paraphrase: "In Korea they say, "Ooo, I owna, you bow to me. That doesn't work here. No! You've got these kids, like you," he said pointing to me, "who most of the time just come in here and drink coffee. But, I see, on days like today, you order food. What's that a chilli burger? Looks good. But if they're just sitting around causing no trouble, like I tend to do, they know that if a place starts to fill up it's only polite to vacate their seats and to free up the waitress' time. Wouldn't you kid?" he said asking me. "Of course you would. You know the rules to this gig! But no! These facists have run out most of the regulars now with their bullshit 5-Cup rule and evil glares and hostile service. I'd like to see them try to run me out of here. I'd buy this place right out from under them in a heart beat. I'm thinking about doing it anyway. Ha ha ha! Then nobody could yell at me for walking behind the line and serving my own coffee! Could they! No! This is America, Mrs. Wong! We play cards and drink coffee. That's what we do in America, Mrs. Wong!"

And so on. It was quite the speach.

Liz told Joe the Cook that a group was celebrating a 21st birthday. Joe gave them free cake and asked what time it was. Liz told him it was exactly 2 a.m. Then Joe said he was exactly 47 years and 2 hours old. And Liz asked if it was his birthday. And Joe said that it was. And I ripped a blank page out of the back of my notebook, folded it in half and made him a birthday card.

The front said this:
Happy Day
JOE

The back said this:
Rockin' the grill,
Makin' some cash,
Who cares if you're gray,
Bring back the 'stash!

--Erik the Regular

I wrote up to page 35 in my second notebook. Wrote about my first drive to Hannah's house from Osage, 27 miles, singin songs to myself and making interesting observations about the One tiny town I had to drive through to get there. Then I got there and wrestled with Hannah's dog, Sorrow. I had some interesting lines go in tonight. I feel good about them. Symbolic lines like, "She went inside the house and I was left with Hannah's Sorrow." Hmmm... Too much? Perhaps.

Then the sad news was broadcasted to Joe and I about Roy, the cook from last night. The cook that always gives me free eggs over easy for some reason. PrettyLiz said, "Guys, last night, after you left, Erik... a customer came in and said, 'Hey the trailer park's on fire!' and we went out to see if we could spot the flames. Roy said, 'That looks close to my house,' so he rode his bike over there. He came back, like, 10 minutes later looking sad. He said, 'I lost everything. My cats, my pictures. All my shit's on fire.' Poor Roy had to stay until the next cook could come in." Joe was furious. "Why didn't you guys call me!? I don't live far from here, I would have come in! Jesus that Roy! And you should have called me to, YoungLady."

PrettyLiz wrote up my ticket, bled on it, and I paid and left at 2:30 a.m. On my way out of the Leroy's, blasted by the singular below zero farenheits, Joe stopped me. He was smoking, wearing only his shirt sleeves and golfer checkered pants. Mr. Joe McGruff himself said, "Thanks for the birthday card, man. That was cool." I think I made a friend.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Song of the day: "La la" - The Polyphonic Spree

--Those are two seperate links. One to a page where you can hear the song (track 4) and the other where you can check out their super cool flash animation intros.