The birdsongs that should've been waking Analu up that morning were the very same that would be lulling him to sleep...if he ever got to sleep. Days
and nights were beginning to run together, melding in a huge blur, as things with the Pueo and the tribe got even more intense. That was his
life. The tribe was everything and there was no ignoring its pull on him any longer. Now that he was well of age, responsibility that had been the old
young men in the tribe was now his. They were the past and he was the present, their days of protecting the looming, ancestral land, over. And
his...just beginning. He would not complain. Atleast he had a place in the tribe. A meaning. A purpose that was beyond many who shared the same
ancient blood. A purpose that was beyond his father's, as if he could even call the man that sat in that wheelchair, grimace like a permanent scar on
his face. Analu wouldn't think about him as there was enough anger and fatigue in him already. No, he would lean on that door and wait for Leah to
open her family's restaurant like she did every morning.
Popping the strain of the night out of his neck, he took a deep pull from his cigarette, closing his eyes as the smoke curled from between his lips.
Where the hell was she already? It was 6:10. She should've been at the diner, opening the doors and putting out the breakfast menus at 6:00. She was
off...and he didn't like it. He didn't like it when Leah did anything that wasn't the "ordinary". When she did the ordinary, that meant everything was
the same. It wouldn't change when she didn't change. And with everything changing those days, shifting all the time, he needed something stable. And
Leah...Leah was it.
Holding that smoldering stick with his lips, he reached into his back pocket, pulling out his battered cellphone, his fingers moving over the keypad,
a frantic text to his Leah.
She was late. Maleah was supposed to be at the diner a good 10 minutes ago, but she had spent all night waiting for Analu to come home; waiting for
her phone to ring to say he was okay...The call never came and now she had overslept. She had just woken up about twenty minutes ago, taking the time
to shower, brush, and run her fingers through her hair, before running out of the house trying to pull her converses on. Her dad wouldn’t be too
upset. They didn’t usually get the breakfast rush until almost 7, so there was still time for her to get in and set up.
Her phone buzzed in her front pocket and she slowed a little, turning the corner as she looked at a text from...oh. She smiled a bit as she looked up from her phone and
into the face of the message sender. Quickly closing the space between them, she took the cigarette from his lips before dropping it to the ground. He
knew how she felt about those cancer sticks and besides, there was nothing he could do about it in public but pout. Her arms then instinctively fell
around his neck, “Hi, baby-,” her lips met his quickly before she moved past him to unlock the door of the Hukilau. “Early morning, I see.”
Late night wasn’t exactly the right phrase to place on it as she knew she was the only one he had seen since leaving the Pueo...or at least
that’s what she hoped...“Come in, I have to set up.”
She opened the door, holding it to step inside and allow Analu to catch it behind her. Grabbing the menus from the counter she started placing four at
each table. “Sit, ku’uipo*, I’ll bring you breakfast.”
*Sweetheart
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
Looking away from the screen of his phone as he pressed the "send" button, he saw Leah before the text message reached her phone. She stopped, fishing
her phone out of those "too fucking short" shorts and there it was, the lift of her lips when she saw his name. Why that smile even appeared at the
sight of his name, he wondered sometimes. But then, the same peak of the corner of his lips came at the sight of her too, even if it did melt away
before she could see it. The annoyance of her lateness wiped it away, that voice that wanted to call out to her stifled by the unusual anger. Where
had she been? And why wasn't she here on time? Where had she been...who had she been with? That paranoia swelled in him, narrowing his eyes as he
watched her walk up to him. Fist clenched, teeth grating together as her steps neared, eyes only looking at her as she pulled the cigarette from his
lips and stomped it. That fucking killed him when she did that. So much so that he was ready to...
"Hi, baby". And just like that, everything welling up inside of him melted away. His finger tips touched the arms that wrapped around his
neck, pulling him down to her height, burying his face in her fresh, sweet smelling hair. His heart slowed and his jaw relaxed, his hands moving to
the skin of her waist as she hugged him, a soft kiss against his lips. The ordinary. The way she always greeted him. It calmed the storm in him. Made
"Lu" come back to himself and banish "Analu" from their presence. To see that nothing changed always made him come back.
"Anela...hey." He slowly spoke, letting her go, his fingers brushing her stomach as she moved past him to open the door to the restaurant,
chattering as she went into the diner. Immediately, he began to lower the chairs that were stacked on each table to the floor, until Leah spoke again,
telling him to sit down for breakfast. Nodding without a word, he sat in the nearest booth, watching her flit around the diner, until the fatigue
closed his eyes, his hand moving to his shaved head, rubbing out the tension from the night before.
"Just coffee..." He muttered, squinting to see her. "Come here. Sit with me."
She smiled as they shared a a quiet moment and he helped her set up a little. She knew he was tired though. He didn’t need anymore work. He needed
rest. She told him to sit as she finished placing the menus and stepped behind the counter, replacing the filter and turning on the coffee pot. She
got eggs out of the fridge before she heard him speak. His voice muffled with sleeplessness.
Leah smiled softly, placing the eggs on the counter beside the flat-grill before going to him. He was under a lot of pressure. He always had been, but
now it was real. Now, he was actually expected to...do...whatever it was they expected him to do. He was leader of his people. He was the tribe’s
great hope. But he was still just a man. He tired just like everyone else.
She stood next to the booth he was sitting in, pulling his head to rest against her chest, her arms wrapped around his body as she just held him for a
second. “I’ll sit for a minute, but you know I have to get things started before daddy gets here-,” she released him, sliding into the booth
beside him. Maleah took his hand into hers, resting her head on his shoulder, “Did things go okay? How are you?” Her voice was soft, barely above
a whisper as she spoke to him, but she knew he heard her.
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
The pressure was one thing that would always exist when it came to Analu's calling, who he was destined to be. And no matter Leah's desire to
empathize, she would never fully be able to. No one would. No one...except his uncle, Malo. Only Uncle Malo truly knew the strain of being chosen.
Even if his "calling" was under circumstances that weren't the most traditional to the tribe. He knew what it was to feel the weight on his shoulders.
To feel so powerful, but at the same time, so fearful. To have this cosmic "high" and then to feel so fucking clumsy with all of that responsibility
in your hands. It was far too much. Yet, his own uncle handled it with more grace than he'd been able to muster. And Analu couldn't help wonder, would
he ever find it? Find that place where the balance of all things met. The place where Uncle Malo was. For fuck's sake, he made everything look so
easy. When would it ever be that easy for Analu?
Without hesitation, even with all of those thoughts jumbled in his head, he leaned into Leah's hug, his face pressing against her chest as his arms
wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him. Just breathing her in was enough. Knowing that even though she would never understand, she was still
there...just for him. What a bitter ass joke it was sometimes. To have her because she understood, but to want to push her away because she would
never understand. With a quiet grunt, he let her pull herself away from him, his body moving as she slid next to him and held his hand.
"It was...okay." Was his quiet answer. That night had been one of the roughest yet. He had sat in on a meeting of the Kapuna, the elders.
From the civil disputes between tribesmen to the trouble brewing off of the Kai Pulehu shore, he sat through it all. And then, began his service to
the Pueo, which lasted until the morning. His head was heavy with all of the knowledge he carried and his temper brewed thick from still
having to defend their coast from the fucking foreigners who treated the land of his forefathers like shit.
"I'm just tired." Analu's hand reached up to brush her hair from her face, his lips meeting her forehead.
She felt for him. Maleah knew she would never fully understand what they did to him and he would never be able to tell her. She had so many questions,
so many things about their people that she would die to know...something Analu did every night. She knew it was killing him, maybe not his body, but
it slowly ate away at his once care-free spirit. He had always been a bit hot tempered, but never anything like what he was when his training
started...There were times when she found herself afraid of him, but more often than not, she loved him. Analu just need her support. What
with the issues he had with his father and his desire to be what he was prophecized to be...No one could be there for him like she was. No one knew
him like she did. So yes, she understood, but no, she could never understand.
He answered her just as softly, it was...okay. It was always okay. She remembered seeing him leave for the first time for these training missions. He
was so excited...he did not return in the same state and he hadn’t since that very day. He was just...tired. As he was this morning.
Lu was tired all the time now and all Maleah had the power to do was try to make him more comfortable. She knew how the younger girls in
their tribe looked up to her, glorified her as the fiancee of their leader. It may have seemed like a position of power, but it was really one of
powerlessness. There was nothing she could do to ease his pain, nothing she could do to make it easier for him. She was completely helpless when it
came to helping the one person who meant more to her than she meant to herself.
He kissed her, his lips gingerly meeting her forehead as her hands cupped his face, bringing it back to hers so that their lips could meet again. She
kissed him deeper this time, probably deeper than she should have in public, but it seemed like he needed it now. “I love you, Analu Ikaika...-,”
she paused, pulling away fully so that she could look him in the eye. “I believe in you.” She’d said it more than once, but it was in his eyes.
She could read him. He needed to hear it again. “Now let me get your coffee-,” she said, the sweet smile returning to her face.
As soon as she stood her father entered. She greeted him, kissing his cheek and telling him good morning as he went to the kitchen and she got a cup
of coffee for Lu.
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
Analu remembered the day that all of this started. His uncle picked him up at dawn on the morning of his eighteenth birthday. He'd left Leah in the
bed, sleeping, his excitement, almost keeping him up the entire night. He remembered how he lay there, pondering the things that his Uncle would show
him. Ancient magic? Secrets of their tribe? All of those things floated there, in his head, only to be popped like thin, filmy bubbles. There was a
quick ending to their beginning as he saw and learned things he would never repeat. His body was pushed for three days. There was no food or water.
Some form of peyote was given to him as he was sent to the Dark Forest, by himself, to become a man. When he emerged, he was different. Not quite a
man, but never himself. Hearing the voices he heard, seeing the things that seemed so real, but weren't. All of that, he could never mutter to another
soul outside of present and future leaders. But never to Leah. And why would he tell her anyway? The truth of his tribe was too much for her. Too much
for her innocence.
Yet, she tried as much as she could for someone so unfairly trapped in the dark. She weathered his...crueler moments like they were all par for the
course. Took them as if she deserved them, when she didn't. She never would. Not someone as sweet and selfless as her. An angel. Yet, Analu couldn't
wait to treat her the way he would treat a common tramp, stray dog. But she never stopped. Never stopped loving him and encouraging him. The hell had
he done to deserve her besides be born on the same day?
With that kiss to her forehead, Leah's hands held his face, bringing her lips back to his. He fell into the kiss immediately, parting his lips and
letting his tongue touch hers as their mouths pressed, hungrily, against each other. And as inappropriate and intimate as the kiss they shared was,
Analu did not regret it. He did not push her away.
I love you... He nodded, letting his forehead press against hers, closing his eyes to her voice. He loved her too. Fuck, he loved her.
Feeling her push away, his eyes opened and he heard the one thing that made his chest swell with pride. That she believed in him. His promised
believed in him and as he looked in her eyes, he knew she wasn't lying. With a soft smile, he held his gaze on her, even when she turned away to get
his coffee.
With a quick "good morning" to her father, who returned the greeting with a quick, unemotional grunt of acknowledgment on the way back to the
kitchens, Analu laid back in the booth and kicked his feet up, his combats fairly clean for the sand and dirt he'd been walking through the entire
night, and closed his eyes, hoping to get a few minutes rest before his Leah returned with his coffee and...
Ding! Customer. Stretching, Analu turned towards the door and stiffened immediately. In walked blonde hair, overpriced surfing gear and
irritatingly, loud accents that sounded like the north of the mainland. Tourists.
Maleah remembered that day too. She woke up that Saturday and he wasn’t next to her like he usually was. His mother and hers greeted her that
morning telling her he had begun his journey and he’d be back soon. She’d refused to celebrate her birthday until he got home. She had no idea
where he was going or when he would be back, but she barely functioned the days he had been away. She missed him too much. She spent as much time as
she could in the diner and when she wasn’t working to keep her mind off of her trouble, she was somewhere in the pacific, being drowned by a sea of
her thoughts. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he okay? Was he even still alive? These are the questions she asked herself all day long while
praying to the Gods that he would be fine and they would return to her the man she loved.
And they did...kind of. Analu came back to her but he wasn’t the same...he wasn’t...him; not all the time. There were moments where he lost his
temper with her, lost his control. She was made to tread lightly from then on, but she didn’t mind. Not for him. Not for her promised. For Analu she
would move mountains, whether that meant putting her life on the line or getting him a simple cup of coffee.
Just as she picked up the coffee pot the bell over the door jingled. Customers. 3 of them. She glanced toward the door and froze a bit. Not because
they were outsiders, and not because they were guys, but because Analu was here. She looked to him, his eyes already on the tourists as they entered.
“Hey guys-,” she greeted them as she would any other customers. “Find a seat, grab a menu. I’ll be with you in a second okay?” She came from
behind the counter to Analu’s table, his coffee in hand. They exchanged glances, hers pleading with him to stay calm and his telling her that he
would if they would. She knew that wasn’t true. She would have to make this quick.
Walking slowly from Lu’s table to the surfers’, she stopped for their order, her signature smile on her face. “So, can I offer you guys the
breakfast special; it’s bacon, eggs, and a short stack. Or do you need a little more time?”
“No sweetheart. That’ll be perfect, see...-,” he paused leaning into her as his hand touched her wrist gently, signaling her to lean in as well.
She did slightly, “I think I’d like you to service me as soon as possible-,” he licked his lips, a smirk on them, bold, as his friends
watched on waiting for her response.
Leah leaned away before speaking. “Well aren’t you sweet-,” she paused shortly, her smile fading. “But this isn’t a Hooters. You eat your
food, you pay your bill, and you go.” She walked away as the other two boys began to laugh. Maleah looked to her fiancee, hoping he wasn’t too
heated by the whole exchange as she made her way to the kitchen to place the boys’ order.
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
As soon as those three entered the shop, Analu didn't have to guess what was going to happen. There was a common belief on the side of the South Shore
that still held true to preserving the heritage of his people and not bending to being overrun by the hordes of pushy, disrespectful tourists for the
sake of money. Tourism had its benefits, but none of those benefits were worth having to deal with the type of trash that had just walked into Leah's
family's restaurant. The type that believed that since they'd happened upon what seemed to be the "poorer" side of Kapuhai Reef, they could treat
everything on it, including the people, like the paid help. As if it wasn't enough that they treated the whole of the islands of Hawaii like that.
Just taking and buying and spending and vacationing themselves into a stupor, throwing a couple of bucks at the islands like dollars on the bed stand
of a whore's bedside they left in the morning. No, Analu would never sell his people's honor for the wealth of tourism. Not for
money, not for the greed.
With a warning glance at Leah, he dropped his feet to the floor, the comfort in his stance completely taken away buy the foreigners' arrival.
Haole*. Their disrespect made Analu's flesh crawl and these three were no different. He could see it in their eyes. And his Uncle Malo had
always told him that you could see the soul of a man through the look in his eyes. Their eyes were wild. Anxious. Ready. But he was sure that
as he looked from Leah, his eyes said the very same thing as she left his side, his coffee on the table top and made her way to the three.
Hey guys... Too friendly. Sometimes, Analu believed that his angel put herself out too far for her customers, especially the outsiders. He
knew it was the kindness in her heart, but they didn't know that, their mouths often returning flirts for her kindness, eyes roaming the legs, hips,
skin that didn't belong to them. And these three were no different, one of them (the leader, it seemed) reaching out to touch her delicate wrist,
whispering into her ear. Analu's jaw clenched, his eyes never leaving her as her smile fell and her body pulled back. They'd insulted her. He could
tell by the body language. And it started.
Watching her as she spoke to them, snatching her wrist from the boy's grasp and made her way back to the kitchen, Analu rose from his booth and walked
to their booth, the goofy grins still on their faces.
"Ey braddah..." His arrival acknowledged by that simple word. They looked to him, their eyes traveling up his height, stopping at that tattoo
that was peaking over the top of his black t-shirt, and then to his face, blank and void of any emotion. Unreadable. He stuck his hands in his
pockets, still looking down at them.
"You three aren't from around here, right?" Obvious question. But he wanted them to hear their own answer. Maybe it would remind them that they were
in unfamiliar territory and that they were, probably unknown in their ignorance, no where near safe. There was no resort, no police. No law outside of
Mokukeiki law for them. It was only him...and the Pueo and neither of those did these three fucks want to piss off. Leaning in close to the
"grabby" one, he met his eyes, staring at him without fear.
Ugh. It was to early for this. Just barely seven, and already there was tension in the air; enough to cut with a chainsaw. She put the order in with
her father, who was already busy making pancakes and eggs. He nodded in response, as Leah placed her palms on the back counter, exhaling, hoping to
ease the ill feeling that these foreigners brought. It wasn’t really their fault. They were tourist. They were under the mistaken impression that if
they threw enough money at it they could have whatever they wanted, whoever they wanted. These were typical haole customers for her, but
usually Analu wasn’t in the diner to witness it. Maybe she should go...shit.
As she turned back to the tables, she noticed Analu wasn’t where he had been. Her eyes trailed to the other patron’s table where he then stood,
hands in his pockets...calm. Too calm. She sighed, pushing away from the counter as he asked if they were from around here. A rhetorical
question of course. One of the friends chuckled, as the other, the one that had touched her answered, “No, brah, just passing
through.”
Maleah sighed, leaving the counter so that she could convince Analu to go home. This could only get worse and she didn’t want Analu to do anything
he’d regret in her family’s diner. She arrived as Analu warned them, the boy he was addressing staring back at him, defiant. “Well thanks for
the reminder. I have been here for a couple minutes, I might have forgotten.” Sarcasm. Sarcasm and disrespect. Both coated his every word and she
knew that would only fuel the fire.
She touched Analu’s shoulder, before stepping in front of him slightly, ignoring the outsiders as she spoke to him. “Analu, please...not now. Not
here-,” her eyes pleaded for him to go home, rest. He was tired and stressed and this was only going to make things worse. She tried to reason with
him while there was still time.
“Yeah, Analu. Why don’t you take the lady’s advice?...I’m sure she can be very persuasive-,” she felt his fingers graze over the back of her
thigh and she tensed. She wouldn’t react. Maybe if she ignored it Analu wouldn’t notice and she could convince him to leave. She took a step
forward, her hand at her fiancee’s chest as she gently pushed him back as well.
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
Such unbridled disrespect. Was it uncommon? No. It wasn't. This was what Analu had come to expect out of anyone who wasn't from the land, birthed from
the blood of the Mokukeiki. The dishonor in their actions, the ignorance in the security they felt when outside of the walls of whatever resort or
hotel kept them blind, dumb to the fact that the Reef was not their personal play land. There were places that were closed to them, that were off
limits and there were stupidly crossing into it. What were they doing on this side of the island with surf gear anyway? Headed to Kai Pulehu, were
they? Another sign of complete disrespect. And another reason why the Pueo were necessary. To put ignorance like these three back in their
place.
But there was no Pueo standing with Analu that morning, not that he needed them or was afraid without them. He had been taught to stand as a
man, whether he was surrounded by friends or not. Something that this mouthy asshole had no idea about as Analu was beyond sure that if the roles were
reversed, he with the group behind him and the outsider with no one but himself, the blond, yapping dog would've shit himself. The weakness was
apparent and there was no way that Analu was backing down, not even after the boy's sarcasm cut through the conversation. Ah, more disrespect. Not a
good idea. Analu only stared into the six eyes watching him, grimacing at him, leering and waiting for him to act first. And he was close to doing
just that. Not only to protect his honor, but the honor of his Anela. And just as it seemed that thinking of her made her materialize, she
appeared between he and the table, looking into his eyes, her eyes and lips pleading with him to let it go.
Then, like a shock ran through her, her body tensed. Analu looked at the table just fast enough to see the "Grabby" one pull back his hand from Leah's
thigh. What. The. FUCK? THAT...was the last of the disrespect that he would take.
"Watch your goddamn hands, you haole fuck..." Analu spat as he tried to move Leah out of his way, her hands pressing against his chest, her body
blocking his access to the table. With anger vibrating through him, his hand clenched around her wrist, desperately pushing it away from him, his
other hand at her waist as he tried to push her aside. He didn't care! He didn't care that his future father-in-law would have to clean up the shop in
the aftermath of that fight. He didn't care that beating the shit out of these three outsiders might bring the law in from the inland and that would
only infuriate the elders. And he didn't care...he didn't care about Leah's pleading eyes. How was he supposed to defend the land if her pleading eyes
won him over every time?! But what was that his Uncle told him the last time he blew up? Some battles were worth fighting and others could wait
until later.. Maybe this one could wait until later...
...Until he could watch them out of the diner, get their plate number from their rented car and handle their very clumsy tongues with the rest of the
Pueo when the sun set.
"You." He spoke to the three assholes through his teeth as his grip loosened on Leah's wrist, his eyes burning into them. "Need to leave."
No. No, no, no, no, no! They could not fight! Not in her family’s diner; hell, she didn’t want them to fight at all. Analu wasn’t thinking
clearly. He had let his emotions get the best of him again and now Maleah found herself in the middle of a soon to ensue brawl. He had an image to
uphold, damn it! She knew his uncle had explained to him the importance of picking his battles. It had been fine when he was a boy, his temper could
be explained away by his age and everyone would accept that he would mature into a more level-headed man. He was...some of the time. But he
could not fight these three in public. He was their tribe’s example, their face. He needed to calm himself...She needed to calm
him.
But that thought went completely out the window as the boy’s hand pulled away from her thigh and Analu reacted. He yelled past her before attempting
to move her and get to the table. “Analu STOP!” She threw her weight into it this time as she tried to push him back, his hand snatching at her
wrist and easily removing her delicate hands from his chest. He was trying to push her aside, but every time he did so she placed herself back between
them, Hawaiian leaving her lips pleading with him to calm down. All the while the boys behind her were egging him on, fueling an already blazing fire.
She took his face between her hands, they yelling still not subsiding as she shouted over the unwelcome guests, “Analu don’t look at them look at
me-,” He tried to pull away again, his hands at his wrists and she held tighter, keeping his gaze, “No! Look at me. None of what
they’re saying is important. Look-,” And he did. He stopped weighing his options, probably listening to what he knew was right...hopefully.
Things grew eerily quiet before he spoke once again, his teeth clenched as words slipped between them. He ordered them to leave. Excellent idea.
Maleah couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped her only to have her breathing hitch as the haole responded, “And if I don’t-,”
“You can walk, outsider...-,” It was her father’s voice, he had come from the kitchen during the commotion and he stood behind the
counter, sawed-off in hand. “Or you can be carried.” He finished, cocking the barrel. The bravery that resided in their faces slipped then, and it was
the outsiders’ turn to weigh their options. Her father looked to her quickly. “Maleah...take Analu home.”
Gladly. She pulled her hands from his face silently, taking his hand in an attempt to pull him along.
You must do what you are ordered; for yourself and for your ohana.
And that was it. With the silence of the room after the the snap of Leah's father's gun, cocking it into readiness, everything ended. Analu had not
even known that her father had emerged from the kitchen with his gun (which was the only protection that he had in the place), but then again, why
wouldn't he have? The haole fucks had their voices raised, all sorts of junk pouring from them. Shit about him. Shit about his anela. Shit
about the restaurant, their side of the island. Just a lot of shit. And if Analu's patience had been wearing thin, there was no wonder that her
father's had been. Part of him had been thankful that Maika had stepped in as there was nothing inside of him that truly desired to destroy the entire
restaurant. The look on his Uncle's face when he found out what had gone down would have killed him. Not because he cared what Malo thought about him,
but there was the disappointment in shaming the tribe that Analu would've seen first. And when word got around that the future of their tribe was
irrational and hot-headed, there would've been hell to pay with the elders.
But...another side was annoyed, almost ashamed that he had to be saved. That the future of a Ikaika tribe had to be rescued by one of his tribesmen?
What the hell would that say when it got out? That he was weak. That was what. When word finally reached everyone, they would know that he turned
away, that he put down his fists in fight. In defending his promised. In defending the honor of his people. In defending...himself. He would
not let it end that way. He would walk away now, the respect of his future father-in-law firmly intact as he was only "chosen" now, not in power. As
an elder, he could have ignored those wishes, he could have handled those haoles and a second thought would not have been given to his actions. But
now, he was to walk out of the diner, his tail between his legs. And later...he would avenge his people and himself.
Thankfully, the outsiders stayed silent as he was pulled away from the restaurant by Leah, the door pushed open quickly as he turned his head in their
direction, remembering every feature. Hair color. Upturned nose. Freckle. Pimple. Outside of the diner, he stayed quiet, shaking Leah's hand from his
and sticking both of his into his pockets as they walked. Again, he paused. Looking at the empty lot beside the diner. Thankfully it was early and
only the unfamiliar car sat in the parking place, the tag number remembered with a lingering glance. And her remembered everything...anything that
would strike his memory later, when none of this embarrassment mattered. When only action would matter.
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